The company’s Chief Operation Officer, Nicolas Brusson said “there is a huge play in emerging markets”, as the company plans to expand into Latin America and Asia.
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French startup Blablacar, which hooks up travelers who want to share a car for long-distance trips, announced Thursday it has raised $200 million in new funds from U.S. and other investors as it seeks to ramp up global expansion. That pushed its valuation to near $1.6 billion, making it one of a handful of billion-dollar venture-backed startups, sometimes known as unicorns, in Europe. So it competes more with regional bus and train lines than with taxis.
Founded in 2006 by Frederic Mazzella, BlaBlaCar started by brokering ride-sharing between cities in France, and has since expanded into 19 countries, claiming over 20 million members globally.
The fundraising was led by Insight Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital. “We are scaling Blablacar in emerging markets”. “The Series D round of funding ensures that BlaBlaCar will continue to build the momentum of inter-city ridesharing in India which is already showing rapid growth”, it said. BlaBlaCar, which launched its services in India in January this year, has already seen 3.5 lakh seats being offered and 1.7 crore km being shared through its marketplace. Ryde operates in the similar space as BlaBlaCar and Tripda but stands out as it is offering the service for both intra and inter city rides.
Paris-based Blablacar is present in major European markets as well as Russia, India and Mexico. Cubito, another player in this space, pivoted to B2B employee transportation management platform mainly due to their inability to achieve scale.
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While car services such as Uber have often clashed with local authorities, Blablacar has so far been met with much less resistance.
