Jaguar Land Rover announces backing of Caura car fee app

Caura – a vehicle management app that aims to collate all aspects of car management into a single platform – has raised $4.2 million (£3.02 million) in a new funding round.

One of the key investors is Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures subsidiary, which is looking at how the Caura app could be integrated into its vehicles.

Sebastian Peck, managing director at Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures, said: “In-car infotainment systems are currently primarily used for entertainment, communication, and navigation in our Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.

“We are really excited about the prospect of seamlessly integrating the Caura platform offering in-car payment for parking, tolls, tax, and congestion, which would be a huge benefit to our customers. We are thrilled to back the Caura team’s vision of delivering a digital ownership experience that is setting a new benchmark for the industry.”

Caura ties up all of the major outgoings related to car ownership into one space. Founded by Dr Sai Lakshmi – a former Apple executive – the app allows users to input their vehicle’s registration number to automatically enable payments for services such as MOT, insurance, tolls and tax. First launched last year, the app is currently available via the Apple Store.

This latest round of investment will allow Caura to launch additional products this year, including a B2B service for car manufacturers. Additional functions include allowing the app to be embedded into a vehicle’s infotainment system enabling drivers to access the app directly through their car’s system.

An Android version of the app will also be made available, while continuous development will allow the technology to better manage parking, tolls and congestion charges – including Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ).

Dr Sai Lakshmi, CEO and founder of Caura, said: “Our goal was to create a single app from which Britain’s 30 million drivers could manage every aspect of their vehicle’s management and maintenance, from MOT to tax to parking.

“Drivers today have dozens of single-use apps to manage this functionality, and since launch in 2020, we have demonstrated Caura’s value and benefits for tens of thousands of UK drivers. This funding will enable us to realise our vision and expand to all drivers with native in-car systems, starting with Jaguar Land Rover, and for Android and web users as well.”