With a valuation of over $ 1.5 billion, BlaBlaCar has become one of the most expensive startups in Europe.
The BlaBlaCar service to search for fellow travelers raised $ 200 million from Insight Venture Partners , Lead Edge Capital and Vostok New Ventures . Insight Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital are also investors of the Alibaba Group holding and Delivery Hero food delivery service. Vostok New Ventures is a gett taxi service backer. BlaBlaCar valuation exceeded $ 1.5 billion. Now it has become one of the most expensive startups in Europe, reports The Telegraph.
"The current financial round was initiated to maintain the growth rate of new BlaBlaCar users in Europe and in emerging markets, where ridesharing are interested in several reasons: imperfect transport infrastructure and own car ownership too burdensome for the locals," BlaBlaCar said in a statement.
In addition, BlaBlaCar plans to develop in the markets of Asia, Brazil and other Latin American countries.
The company's founder, Nicholas Brusson, said that there are only two main markets in the world that we are not going to enter: the United States and China. “China is like a different world, in many ways incomprehensible,” says Brusson. The vast majority of US residents have private cars, and the density of public transport in this country, on the contrary, is too low.
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“We constantly emphasize that BlaBlaCar is about car sharing. The driver does not make a profit, but only compensates for fuel costs. We do not have commercial drivers who need to get a license, do insurance and so on. Moreover, according to statistics, about 60% of drivers from time to time become passengers, ”explained Brusson, the fundamental difference between Uber and BlaBlaCar.
Megamind wrote that in April the French service acquired two competing companies: Carpooling from Germany and AutoHop from Hungary. Thanks to these two deals, BlaBlaCar has become the largest ridesharing service in Europe. After that, the BlaBlaCar user base should grow twice and reach 20 million people.
In July 2014, the company raised $ 100 million. Then it was planned to direct these funds to the development of the service in Russia and Ukraine.
Today the service is available in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
"The current financial round was initiated to maintain the growth rate of new BlaBlaCar users in Europe and in emerging markets, where ridesharing are interested in several reasons: imperfect transport infrastructure and own car ownership too burdensome for the locals," BlaBlaCar said in a statement.
In addition, BlaBlaCar plans to develop in the markets of Asia, Brazil and other Latin American countries.
The company's founder, Nicholas Brusson, said that there are only two main markets in the world that we are not going to enter: the United States and China. “China is like a different world, in many ways incomprehensible,” says Brusson. The vast majority of US residents have private cars, and the density of public transport in this country, on the contrary, is too low.
')
“We constantly emphasize that BlaBlaCar is about car sharing. The driver does not make a profit, but only compensates for fuel costs. We do not have commercial drivers who need to get a license, do insurance and so on. Moreover, according to statistics, about 60% of drivers from time to time become passengers, ”explained Brusson, the fundamental difference between Uber and BlaBlaCar.
Megamind wrote that in April the French service acquired two competing companies: Carpooling from Germany and AutoHop from Hungary. Thanks to these two deals, BlaBlaCar has become the largest ridesharing service in Europe. After that, the BlaBlaCar user base should grow twice and reach 20 million people.
In July 2014, the company raised $ 100 million. Then it was planned to direct these funds to the development of the service in Russia and Ukraine.
Today the service is available in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/294604/
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