Rental automotive startup Kyte has shut down almost one yr after slashing employees and exiting most of its cities in the US. The corporate bought its buyer checklist to Turo in July after which turned proper round and entered right into a type of receivership in California, in accordance with a discover that went out to Kyte collectors.
Kyte fell behind on a few of its loans earlier this yr, in accordance with the discover. That brought about the corporate’s high lender to repossess and liquidate Kyte’s automobile fleet.
Kyte’s board of administrators “pursued varied capital options” to maintain the corporate alive, the discover states. However the firm wasn’t capable of line up financing and the board voted to wind down Kyte.
Whereas Kyte handed its buyer checklist to Turo, a variety of customers who had prebooked journeys earlier than the shutdown have complained that they’re caught ready on refunds for lots of of {dollars}.
Some who spoke to TechCrunch stated they had been capable of get their bank card firms to carry out a charge-back, whereas others have had no luck. Kyte CEO Nikolaus Volk instructed TechCrunch in a message that charge-backs will be the quickest means for patrons to get that cash again.
Based in 2019, Kyte supplied on-demand rental vehicles that it additionally delivered on to clients’ houses. It managed its personal fleet of automobiles, making it a bit extra like Zipcar and fewer just like the peer-to-peer choices of gamers like Turo. Kyte grew to 14 markets and raised greater than $300 million in financing over its lifetime, and began billing itself because the “greatest competitor to Hertz.”
The enterprise began coming aside in 2024, Volk instructed TechCrunch final yr. Kyte was struggling to generate free money movement in markets like Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Volk stated his staff explored promoting the enterprise however determined to restructure and give attention to reaching revenue within the two greatest markets of San Francisco and New York Metropolis.
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Kyte’s not the one startup on this sector to run into bother — particularly in the US. Getaround, one other peer-to-peer automobile rental service, shuttered its U.S. operations in February of this yr to give attention to its European enterprise. TrueCar founder Scott Painter pivoted away from automobile subscriptions in 2024 after struggling to construct up a enterprise known as Autonomy.
