Virtuo announced the appointment of Nina Holmes as the company's new chief operating officer on Oct. 31. She will lead on operations, the expansion strategy of Virtuo, and the scale up of the French Tech 120. 

Karim Kaddoura and Thibault Chassagne, co-founders of Virtuo, said this recruitment reaffirms the company's ambition to "revolutionize mobility and the car rental market by placing customers at the heart of their sustainability-focused strategy." Holmes' experience will enable the company to consolidate its quality of service on a larger scale while growing beyond the six countries it currently operates in. Virtuo has committed to making 50% of its fleet electric by 2025.

"The expansion of cities and rapid urban growth is a challenge for us all," Holmes said. "Our objective is to reinvent car rental as we know it and provide customers with a sustainable alternative that meets the needs of the modern consumer. We want to provide a service that allows consumers to be free from the burden of car ownership. I’m excited for the challenge of turning this vision into reality alongside Karim, Thibault, the entire Virtuo team." 

Holmes holds a degree in development and African affairs from the University of London and a masters in the department of international development from the University of Oxford. She first developed her experience in operations management at Jumia as director of Jumia Food Operations and then general manager of Jumia On Demand Services for Africa. She later joined Amazon and then Zapp, a consumer product delivery scale-up where her responsibilities were for the supply chain element of the business.

"We are delighted to welcome Nina to Virtuo," said Kaddoura and Chassagne. "Our ambition is to expand into new European and global markets. Nina's expertise in this area will be vital in securing our goal of being the benchmark for on-demand cars in France and across Europe."