San Francisco startup Kyte is bringing its “on-demand” rental car service to Philadelphia this week.
Kyte launches on Friday with vehicle rentals with drop-off and pickup at locations the user chooses, like their house and job. Launched in 2019 and backed by former Uber executives and venture capital firms, Kyte has been rapidly expanding to cities including Miami, Boston, Chicago and Seattle.
Kyte will operate in the following Philadelphia neighborhoods: Strawberry Mansion, Olde Richmond, Olde Kensington, Fishtown, Northern Liberties, Franklin Town, Yorktown, Fairmount, University City, Gray's Ferry, Old City, Passyunk Square, Whitman and South Philadelphia.
Kyte was drawn to Philadelphia because of its strong innovation culture as well as people “embracing transportation technology over car ownership,” Kyte Co-founder Ludwig Schoenack said.
The startup will begin with a local team of fewer than 10 employees, or “Kyte surfers,” and a fleet of less than 20 vehicles to test the market before it considers scaling up.
Schoenack declined to share revenue figures, but he estimates that Kyte's revenue grew tenfold in the last year. The startup also netted a $9 million investment from venture capital firms, several Uber alumni, Lime co-founder Toby Sun and Kayak and Travelocity co-founder Terry Jones, TechCrunch reported. Kyte has doubled its four-city footprint since January, and it’s now operating in eight cities.
The service will be priced at market rates, said Schoenack, who did not provide specific costs for users. The company offers discounts for longer-term rentals, such as weekly or monthly rentals.
A search of Kyte's website shows a weekly rental beginning Friday in Philadelphia starts at $37 per day for an economy vehicle. Coverage for the car starts at $11 per day. Rentals include 300 miles per day, with a surcharge of 45 cents per mile for overage.
“We'd like to be where people don't make a decision based on price, but they make a decision based on the value that that we provide in terms of convenience and flexibility and consistency,” Schoenack said.
Kyte’s typical user is a person who doesn’t have a car but has access to a broad range of transportation options — such as public transit, cycling, walking or scooters — for short trips, Schoenack said. That core user is in densely populated urban centers, like Philadelphia. Kyte is also for people looking to get out of the airport logistics system, such as car rental lines near the airport.
The startup doesn’t choose where it operates based on neighborhood, but instead based on which neighborhoods are closest to its central hub, Schoenack said. Kyte houses its fleet in an undisclosed “dark parking lot" somewhere centrally located in the city, he said.
Kyte works with existing “established” rental car companies to get its vehicles, and it does not use people’s personal cars.
Unlike other competing hourly transportation companies, like Zipcar or scooter companies like Lime or Bird, Kyte emphasizes charging for at least a full day of service, because most of the trips Kyte users take are outside of the urban center. The company doesn’t believe in using cars on an hourly basis — it would rather users run errands using modes like cargo bikes, Schoenack said.
“Kyte usually takes the place of every trip longer than an Uber ride,” he said.
