Car rental alternative Zipcar gears up for IPO

www.zipcar.com

Zipcar, the largest car-sharing company in the world, is preparing for a public offering of its shares next year, as it fends off rivals including Hertz Car Rental.

The company has grown from a fleet comprising one lime-green VW Bug to 6,500 vehicles, and will post its first profit during the third quarter, according to CEO Scott Griffith. Zipcar’s success has led to Hertz launching its own car-sharing service, with a fleet of 1,000 vehicles, in New York City, by the end of this year.

Nine years ago, Zipcar was conceived in a Cambridge, Massachusetts café, and is now looking at an initial public offering when smaller companies have fallen out of the market in the worst slowdown the industry has seen in 38 years or more.

For 2009, the number of IPOs backed by venture capital is 90 percent lower than during 2007, which was the last year before the beginning of the economic downturn, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association.

Griffith referred to the global economic downturn when he said: “We’re succeeding and we’re growing in a year where flat is the new up.” Zipcar’s sales are expected to reach $120 million this year and, within a decade, to grow to $1 billion, he added.

Thanks to www.bloomberg.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.zipcar.com