Turo

A lot has changed since Shasta first invested in RelayRides over four years ago.  In 2011, founder Shelby Clark had just moved his fledgling company to San Francisco from Cambridge.  No one outside of Silicon Valley and Boston had heard anything about the “sharing economy.”  Even in San Francisco, the idea of renting out your car to a stranger was considered vaguely insane.At Shasta, we ignored the conventional wisdom and tried the product for ourselves.  Before they moved to San Francisco, I took a red-eye flight to Boston just to try the service.  Even in their early days, RelayRides offered renters access to unique vehicles (with features like manual transmissions) that they couldn’t get through the incumbent rental fleets.  Just as importantly, people could make real money on their cars when not in use.  I was one of the early renters, all the way back in 2012 - and learned firsthand just how well the service could work.Today, “sharing” is mainstream.  Politicians in national campaigns regularly refer to the “sharing economy” trend and it’s implications.  With steady, rapid growth, Airbnb has become a well-known international brand.  Similarly, RelayRides (now Turo) is well on its way to becoming the next big breakout company in the sharing economy.  Turo has tripled revenue every year for the last several years and will rack up about one million rental days in 2015.  The company just announced a new $47 million round that will allow them to further accelerate their growth.As part of their evolution, today RelayRides announced their new name: Turo.  The name “RelayRides” served the company well for the first phase of its evolution; but now that sharing is mainstream, Turo is the perfect name for the company’s future expansion.  Brand names are important.  Turo captures the essence of RelayRides - a memorable, aspirational brand that inspires adventure.  If you haven’t yet had a chance to try peer-to-peer car rental yet, it’s time to try Turo.