Kyte Appoints Barney Harford To Its Board of Directors

Former Uber COO and Orbitz Worldwide CEO will be Kyte's first independent board director

SAN FRANCISCO, March 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyte, the company delivering rental cars to customers when and where they want, today announced the appointment of Barney Harford as an independent board director. Barney brings extensive experience operating and governing large and rapidly growing technology-enabled businesses, with a particular focus on travel and transportation. He will contribute to setting the strategic direction of Kyte, help scale the company's geographical footprint, and advise on expansions into new product categories and sectors.

Barney previously served as COO of Uber, with responsibility for the company's global ridesharing business, leading operations, strategy, marketing, customer support, safety, and insurance in over 60 countries, as well as for the company's food-delivery business UberEats. While at Uber Barney led initiatives to reduce trip defect rates, launch driver and consumer loyalty programs, introduce major safety improvements, increase focus on high-value customer segments, and extend the platform to embrace lower-cost modes of transportation. He led a 15,000-person organization and played a significant role in the company's 2019 IPO, which raised over $8B. Prior to Uber Barney served as CEO and a director of Orbitz Worldwide, leading a turnaround of the NYSE-listed company that culminated in the company's sale to Expedia for $1.6B. Prior to Orbitz Barney served in a variety of roles at Expedia, including as President of Expedia Asia Pacific, leading Expedia's market entry into China, Australia, and Japan. Barney currently serves as a board director at United Airlines, a position he has held since 2016.

"I'm excited to join the Kyte board of directors and contribute to Kyte's transformation of the car rental experience for consumers," said Barney Harford, incoming board director at Kyte. "Kyte's model of delivering cars to customers when and where they want is an important unlock as society transitions from individual car ownership to transportation as a service. I'm looking forward to helping Kyte play a leadership role in enabling this important transition."

Barney joins Kyte at a pivotal phase in the company's growth. In November Kyte announced a $60M Series B fundraise following 5x growth in 2022; Kyte's services are now available in 14 markets. In parallel with Barney joining the board of directors, Kyte added new investors with extensive experience operating across the online travel ecosystem including Rich Barton, CEO of Zillow and former CEO of Expedia; Mark Britton, former CEO of Avvo and former GC of Expedia; Dennis Cinelli, CFO of Scale AI and former head of US & Canada Mobility at Uber; TJ Clark, former CEO of Turnkey Vacation Rentals; Rob Greyber, CEO of Vacasa and former president of Egencia; Robert Hohman, chairman of Glassdoor and former president of Classic Custom Vacations; Henrik Kjellberg, CEO of Awaze and former president of Hotwire; and Greg Slyngstad, Expedia's first general manager and former board director at Kayak.

For more information about Kyte, please visit kyte.com.

About Kyte

Kyte is reinventing the mobility market and is on a mission to "unlock the freedom to go places." Kyte delivers cars on demand to people's doors for all trips longer than a rideshare. The company's approach increases vehicle utilization and takes cars off the road for a more sustainable future while saving customers time and money.

Through the Kyte mobile app on iOS, Android, or website, customers can book a car for a day, multiple days, multiple weeks, months, or however long they want. To begin, customers choose a time and location for their vehicle delivery. Then, the company dispatches a delivery driver — known as a "Kyte Surfer" — to deliver a clean, sanitized car at the time requested. When the vehicle is ready to be returned, a Kyte Surfer retrieves the car from the customer at the location and time they can flexibly choose.

Currently operational in more than 14 cities, Kyte was founded in 2019 by Nikolaus Volk, Ludwig Schoenack, and Francesco Wiedemann, is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with offices in Munich, Germany, and satellites across the globe, and currently employs 100 people. For more information about Kyte, visit their website, and for career opportunities, please visit their career page.

SOURCE Kyte