Skip to content

LocalGlobe leads Zebra Fuel’s $2.5m Seed

zebra fuel

Zebra Fuel, an on-demand energy startup which delivers fuel directly to vehicles, has raised $2.5m (£1.8m) in a Seed round led by LocalGlobe.

The startup also drew investment from Brent Hoberman’s Firstminute Capital and ‘super angel’ Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman.

Zebra Fuel has raised $3m in funding to date.

The startup was set up by entrepreneurs Reda Bennis and Romain Saint Guilhem on the conviction that it no longer made sense for drivers to be dependent on a static location – whether a petrol station or charging dock – to refuel their vehicles.

Zebra Fuel works around this by enabling users to order a refill in the same way they would book a ride or order a takeaway.

“We’re like a Formula 1 pit stop for your car, van, truck or coach,” said co-founder and CEO Reda Bennis. “We can also do fuel deliveries through the night, so customers can wake up to a full car outside their house or a depot of fully-fuelled vehicles and not have to waste their own precious time. Ultimately, our goal is to replace the petrol station and in doing so make filling up your car faster, cheaper, less harmful to the environment, and hassle-free.”

Zebra Fuel already offers customers diesel and is looking to integrate petrol and electric options soon. “And we don’t plan on stopping there,” Bennis added. “Additional products will be offered through the app making Zebra the Amazon for your car.”

LocalGlobe partner Suzanne Ashman Blair commented on her decision to invest: “Not only are Reda, Romain and the team addressing the urgent and growing blight of congested and polluted cities, by delivering fuel directly to drivers, but at scale they can help transform the way cities work.

“They can help London and Paris become the first global cities to eliminate petrol stations altogether, and create a virtuous circle whereby the more people they serve, the more unnecessary journeys to petrol stations they can eliminate and the more they can reduce CO2 emissions. This is especially true with corporate customers, when an entire commercial fleet can be filled up in their depot, at night, with a single visit from one of Zebra’s refuelling vans. ”

Firstminute Capital’s Brent Hoberman went on to note: “With 2.1 million cars in London alone, the size of the market opportunity for Zebra Fuel is considerable.

“At the moment drivers have no choice: they have to go to a petrol station to refill their car. But faced with the option of a far easier, quicker and cheaper alternative, how many will break the habit of a lifetime and switch to Zebra?

“We’re convinced that this is a service whose moment has arrived – and offering fuel on-demand, whether diesel, petrol, electric or bio is only the start of the company’s story.”

Check out our UK tech investment tracker for the latest industry deals.

Topics

Register for Free

Get daily updates and enjoy an ad-reduced experience.

Already have an account? Log in