Booster, US startup, raised $20mln to pump your gas for you

Booster Fuels, which operates a mobile gas station that functions via smartphone, on Tuesday announced a $20 million round from existing investors like Conversion Capital, which led the round, along with Maveron, Madrona Venture Group, Version One, Perot Jain LP, and RRE Ventures. New investors include Stanford’s StartX Fund, BADR Investments, and U.S. Venture Inc. Total funding to date is now $32 million.

Booster is “reinventing the concept and habit of getting gas for the 21st century,” CEO Frank Mycroft told TechCrunch. Going to the gas station is the “least fun thing in the week.”

The company originally started in Seattle, but relocated to Burlingame, California, to Silicon Valley last year. It operates in the Bay Area and the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and has delivered more than five million gallons of gas — that’s up from a 3 million milestone reached in April.

Customers sign up for Booster via its app and schedule a fill-up. They just have to leave the gas cap open and when they return from work, they should be good to go.

Mycroft says Booster has secured partnerships with Cisco, Oracle and Facebook to offer gas to its employees. But the companies don’t actually have to pay Booster anything. The startup gets its revenue from the employees directly.

Booster is also working with universities, particularly at commuter campuses. But unlikes some of the on-demand gas startups like Purple or WeFuel, Booster isn’t looking to service everyone and is just focusing on private communities.

For now, Booster provides its service in the San Francisco Bay and Greater Dallas-Fort Worth areas, and the company plans on using the new funds to expand to other cities in the U.S.

Booster has raised a total of $32 million since it was founded in 2014. In addition to expanding to new markets, the startup will use the fresh injection of capital to increase sales and marketing and grow its team of 50.