Upshift, The Car Service Startup Driving The Future

We had the opportunity to interview Ezra Goldman, Co-Founder and CEO of Upshift, a fractional car subscription service that is redefining car leasing for urban living.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and Upshift?
A: I up on a 100 acre former farm in rural Connecticut. The woods were my playground. Sticks and stones were my toys. I’ve been living in cities the last 20 years, but I’ve always spent time connecting in nature. I am environmentally aware and don’t want to contribute to global warming or air pollution through owning a car. The idea of buying and owning a car that I would only use a couple of days a week just didn't sit well with me (never mind all of the headaches with city parking, payments, insurance, maintenance, etc). I tried probably every shared transportation app and service out there. I would often bike a mile or two to the closest car share, only to find that the car I had rented had been driven far away by the owner and wasn’t even available, the tire was flat, or it reeked of cigarettes. I once ran one errand to a nearby hardware store and had to put $1 of gas in the car just to drive one mile because the tank was completely empty. This just didn’t seem right to me.
 

Q: How did you get the idea for Upshift?
A: I have worked on shared transportation projects since co-founding a bike-share in 1999 and helped to design an electric scooter for shared use at the MIT Media Lab in 2006 while studying urban design. Despite all the enthusiasm for these types of services that “replace cars”, what the data consistently show is that these services tend to replace transit and non- motorized travel.

Upshift is a car subscription service that was born out of almost a decade long user-centered design approach, focused on reducing the number of underutilized cars parked on city streets. What we realized early on was that there are certain types of trips that are really best served by driving. Going on a big shopping run or going for a hike are hard to do without a car. It was increasingly clear from all data that only accessing a car replaces owning a car.

Many people in cities use a range of alternatives for their daily commute. Yet they still own cars for these trips that are hard to do without a car, they just drive them very infrequently. Car ownership has many headaches including parking tickets, broken windows, dealing with insurance and repairs, and years locked into expensive car payments. So to replace car ownership the question is: how do you make accessing a car feel like owning a car, but more convenient and without all the headaches?
 

Q: What makes your company different from others in your space?
A: Upshift is a fractional car subscription for low mileage urban drivers. Whenever you need to drive somewhere, book via text or app and we'll deliver a Toyota RAV4 hybrid SUV or Toyota Prius hybrid to your door. When you are done, simply park it in our service zone, lock up and walk away- we'll come pick it up so you don't need to worry about long term parking in the city! Our fractional car subscriptions are based on how often you drive with no long term commitment. We take care of everything including full coverage insurance, repairs, maintenance, refueling, and cleaning.

Q: Was it always your goal to have your own company?
A: No, I am just very driven to find a better solution than car ownership for cities. There are so many issues that touch every aspect of our lives with car ownership- they take up valuable urban real estate and sit parked over 95% of the time, they cause congestion and air pollution, and waste a lot of time and money for car owners most of whom in cities only need to drive a couple of times a week.

 

Q: Have you partnered with, or received funding from, any notable sources?
A: We have received nearly $2M in equity, debt and project financing from Urban Us, BMW (BMWYY), Ford (F), an AngelList syndicate led by Sundeep Ahuja, the cofounder of NerdWallet, and thousands of angel investors on Republic

Q: What sets Upshift apart from other companies with a car subscription program?
A: Upshift is like owning a car, but better. You always have an identical, unbranded car that’s clean, gassed, and ready to go at your doorstep. We take care of all the headaches of owning a car, like parking, insurance, and maintenance. We are unlike other car subscription services such Care by Volvo (VLVLY), Mercedes Benz Collection (DMLRY), Hertz My Car (HTZ), Porsche Passport (POAHY), Carpe by Jaguar Land Rover (TTM), and Audi Select (AUDVF). Those services focus on the flexibility of access to a variety of cars (typically those made by the OEM) or a more flexible short term lease on a car (typically <6 months). Upshift caters to people in cities looking for part time access to both a car and an SUV as an ongoing lifestyle solution. Most of our members have been with us for years and get a car delivered 1-3 days/week. Getting a car for the weekend has always been popular. Now with COVID, we’re also seeing a lot of people going into the office just a few days a week and work from home the rest of the week. We expect this trend to continue and grow as many offices move towards more remote work.
 

 

Q: What kind of traction have you had since you first launched?
A: We have raised close to $2M. About half is equity financing to grow the business and build our technology, the other half is debt financing to scale our fleet of hybrid Priuses and RAV4 hybrid SUVs. We are excited that roughly half of our equity financing comes from thousands of small investments on our Republic campaign from everyday people who are excited about our solution. Many of them want us to come to cities around the country that weren’t even on our roadmap!We’ve tripled the size of our fleet since launching subscription service two years ago and we’ve built a software stack to automate signup, bookings, subscriptions, and our delivery logistics operations. We’re now rolling out our first member mobile app and integrating vehicle telematics across our fleet to enable members to locate and unlock their car without needing to meet their delivery concierge in person. This will make our logistics more efficient and scalable while improving the member experience considerably. It also makes our service safer during COVID - not only do our concierges wear masks, drive with windows down, and sanitize the car when we deliver it to your door - we now offer fully contactless delivery. Getting a car delivered turns out to be the safest way to access a shared car in the COVID era, and now we’re making it even safer.

Q: Where do you see the company in 5 years and how do you plan to get there?
A: We see a huge opportunity to build a new kind of "car dealership for people who don't own cars". It's like having a two car garage in your pocket and you never need to go to a dealership, repair shop, maintenance center, gas station, or car wash ever again. We are reinventing car financing and the entire car ownership experience through a new kind of fractional car subscription in anticipation of the day when people subscribe to a range of shared, autonomous, electrified, and connected vehicles instead of owning a car. In doing so, we are also building out the fleet management operations, hardware and software, and business model innovation for the shared autonomous fleets of the future.

Q: Are you looking for additional funding or have a crowdfunding campaign? If so, what are you looking for in a potential investor, and how can interested readers get in touch/learn more?
A: We have an equity crowdfunding campaign running on Republic which has (at writing) raised $462,000+ from 2,250+ investors. We're looking for investors who share our vision to improve our cities, reduce CO2 emissions, and make people's lives more convenient. For a limited time, now anyone can invest as little as $100 at republic.co/upshift.


Q: What benefit is there for a consumer to use your business instead of leasing a car?
A: Upshift is the most convenient way to get access to a car. If you lease a car, you have a big down payment and years of commitment. You have to deal with finding it a parking spot in the city, fixing repairs, paying parking tickets, taking it in for service, and getting it insurance. With Upshift, you just book via our app or text us "I'd like a RAV4 on Saturday from 9am- 6pm" and an identical Prius or RAV4 hybrid SUV gets delivered to your doorstep, clean, with a full tank of gas and full coverage insurance. All our cars come with the latest in semi- autonomous technology like adaptive cruise control, pre-collision avoidance, and lane keeping assistance- plus they have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you can run navigation, listen to podcasts, and take phone calls all from the touchscreen display. We can even bring it with accessories like a dog car seat cover. It's like having a 2 car garage in your pocket. Upshift is the future of car leasing.
 

Q: How has creating Upshift changed your life?
A: I've dedicated most of the past decade to reinventing car ownership. I've learned a ton about the industry and also about people's transportation needs and behavior in a way that I never could have otherwise. It's extremely challenging to build a business but incredibly rewarding. Now during COVID with plane travel so difficult, many members are also using our service to visit distant family members as far away as Utah and Kansas. We’ve helped members get to funerals and I’ve personally delivered a car to a member after she went into labor to help her get to the hospital to give birth. It’s really been amazing to see the impact we are having. It's tiring to get up early on weekends and often work late but it's worth it when you see the smile on our members' faces. We are enabling them to connect with the people who matter in their lives and do more of the things they love more easily while also reducing our carbon emissions and making our cities just a little bit better.