European carpool Service BlaBlaCar as another beneficiary of the booming economy

Absrtact: July 2, the European carpool service BlaBlaCar become another beneficiary of the booming economy, which has received as much as $100 million trillion in funding for the C round. This round of financing by the famous venture capital agency Index Ventures, other investors also include Accel Par

July 2, European carpool services BlaBlaCar become another beneficiary of the booming economy, which has received as much as $100 million trillion in funding for the C round. This round of financing by the famous VC agency Index Ventures, other investors also include Accel, Isai and lead Edge capital.

BlaBlaCar offers free matching services to private car owners and potential riders, who can offset the cost of car use by renting vacant seats to passengers for a fee. At the same time, the company also set up a set of fee standards, so that owners can not profit through this way. This model has been particularly successful in Europe because it offers a cheaper way to meet Europeans traveling between cities and countries.

While the paris-based BlaBlaCar may face competition from Silicon Valley companies, Lyft or UberX, the BlaBlaCar are completely different from the two services, which only share excess capacity, and both emphasize passenger earnings.

According to the data published by BlaBlaCar, the application has 8 million registered users in 12 European countries, and the monthly live users reach 1 million. The company currently has 150 employees, most of which operate in regional operations.

BlaBlaCar COO Nicolas Blusson (Nicolasbrusson) said the company's recent services in Ukraine and Russia have been surprisingly successful.

"For Europeans, what we're doing now is creating a new kind of cheap way to travel," Blusson said. In Russia, you can travel by plane, but the price is too high, take the train, although cheap but slow. As a result, the service we offer is not only very inexpensive, but it can also take travelers to places where there is no public transport. ”

Blusson said BlaBlaCar did not plan to enter the United States, because the geography of the United States, petrol prices and cultural attitudes are not compatible with the company's operating model, in addition to the rest of the world also has great opportunities for development.

Blusson admits he had hoped the current round of financing would reach $25 million trillion, but he was surprised by the end result.

Currently, BlaBlaCar only has a source of income in a handful of countries that already offer online payment options and charge transaction costs. However, Blusson that, because this market contains huge development opportunities, the company is only a matter of time.

"It costs 20 dollars to travel 300 miles on the BlaBlaCar," Blusson said. If this money is spent on Uber, you can't even get out of London. Uber is a service for lawyers and bankers, and our clients are 99% other ordinary people. "(LI)