Kyte (company)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Car rental |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Founder | Ludwig Schoenack, Nikolaus Volk, Francesco Wiedemann |
| Defunct | August 2025 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
Area served | United States (14 cities) |
Number of employees | 100 (2023) |
Kyte was a car rental company headquartered in San Francisco that specialized in delivering vehicles directly to customers. By March 2023, the business operated in 14 cities across the United States and employed around 100 staff members. Operations were discontinued in August 2025.
History
Kyte was established in 2019 in San Francisco by German-born entrepreneurs Ludwig Schoenack, Nikolaus Volk, and Francesco Wiedemann. The founders brought experience from venture capital, software development at Uber, and car-sharing services at ReachNow. Schoenack earned an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. The company began its initial service offering within San Francisco city limits in May 2019.
In January 2021, Kyte secured $9 million in funding from DN Capital and Amplo VC. By August of the same year, the company had expanded into Seattle, marking its presence in eight cities. In March 2022, Kyte launched operations in Portland, Oregon, becoming its fourteenth market, while simultaneously obtaining a $200 million capital infusion from Goldman Sachs and Ares Management aimed at fleet expansion. Later that year, it completed a Series B funding round that raised an additional $60 million.
December 2022 saw Kyte roll out subscription services available for three, six, or twelve months across all active markets. These plans provided an alternative to traditional short-term rentals, featuring options such as Tesla models alongside other vehicle types.