In the age of online shopping, it’s faster and easier than ever before to find the right item to suit one’s specific needs. When it comes to moving various amounts of furniture or supplies, one startup is looking to provide just the thing with its truck rental marketplace. Based in Atlanta, Fetch is expanding its operations with $3.5 million in seed funding led by NextView Ventures.
The company offers a mobile, on-demand rental platform for vans and trucks. Offering an alternative to waiting in line, signing an array of documents and blindly hoping there’s a vehicle available that suits what someone is looking for, Fetch’s sign-up and rental process happens entirely via mobile device. After creating and verifying their account and identity, users are able to rent a vehicle for at least an hour at any point in the day.
Fetch’s marketplace features its own fleet of trucks and vans, as well as those of companies and individuals opting to to rent out some of their own. These users install hardware that enable Fetch customers to unlock their vehicle using their mobile phone.
Their ride would be available for pickup at a range of locations across the country. Though the company got its start in Atlanta in 2017, it’s since expanded its operations into Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Houston and Dallas.
“Our mission at Fetch is to make renting a truck effortless,” Adam Steinberg, Fetch’s CEO, said in a company blog post. “In today’s environment, a fast, contactless rental experience is more important than ever for anyone renting a truck — whether you’re a homeowner, business owner or delivery driver.”
The company has partnerships with a number of businesses to help make trucks more available where customers are more likely to need them, such as when moving items into storage or finding a rental vehicle while their car is being serviced. Fetch’s partnerships include names like Extra Space Storage, Universal Body Shop, crowdsource delivery platform Roadie and PREP Atlanta, a collection of culinary startups.
Currently, Fetch has a staff of 12 people, and the new funding will help it double the size of its headcount, as reported by TechCrunch. With plans to do so over the next three or so months, Fetch is currently hiring for roles in engineering, development, marketing, customer support and partner onboarding.
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