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BlaBlaCar

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BlaBlaCar
Company typePrivate
Industrytransport Edit this on Wikidata
Founded2006; 18 years ago (2006)
FoundersFrédéric Mazzella (CEO) Nicolas Brusson (COO) Francis Nappez (CTO)
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Websiteblablacar.com

BlaBlaCar is the world's largest long-distance ridesharing community.[1] Conceived in December 2003 by Frédéric Mazzella,[2] and founded in 2006,[3] BlaBlaCar connects drivers and passengers willing to travel together between cities and share the cost of the journey. BlaBlaCar has more than 25 million members across 22 countries.[4][5][6][7]

Members must register and create a personal online profile, which includes ratings and reviews by other members, social network verification, and rate of response.[8][9] "Profiles of members show how much experience they have of the service, meaning those with more – known as "ambassadors" – attract more ride shares and, importantly, each user's profile includes a "BlaBla" measurement, which indicates how much they are willing to chat during a trip".[2]

As of April 2015, the company had raised USD$100 million from blue-chip venture-capital firms including ISAI, Index and Accel, plus earlier rounds of €1.2 million from ISAI and €600,000 from founders, friends, and family.[10]

On September 16 2015, BlaBlaCar announced it had raised another US $200 million "primarily from US investors" in a round that valued the company at USD$1.6 billion.[11]

The service is accessible via the web, mobile and also via apps for iOS and Android.[12]

History

Mazzella first came up with the idea in 2003 while trying to travel home for Christmas, during which he observed many empty car seats available but no way to access them.[13] In 2008, the founders launched the "2.0 web community Covoiturage.fr", described as "Booking meets Facebook." Covoiturage.fr was originally both C2C (free) and B2B, selling the software platform to companies to use to encourage ridesharing amongst employees and sold as many as 200 platforms. But the B2B model was not profitable, requiring too many customisations for lower and lower costs, so the founders focused entirely on the C2C model and looked on how to improve it and monetise it.[13]

Business model

The startup's economic model is designed for long distances and geared toward motorists looking to fill empty seats during journeys they would have been making anyway.[14]

BlaBlaCar sticker on a car

International expansion

  • BlaBlaCar expanded into Spain in 2009 [15]
  • BlaBlaCar launched in the UK in June 2011 [16]
  • BlaBlaCar launched in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Poland, and Portugal in October 2012 [17]
  • BlaBlaCar launched in Italy in March 2012 by acquiring PostoinAuto.it [18]
  • BlaBlaCar launched in Germany in April 2013 [19]
  • BlaBlaCar expanded into Ukraine and Russia in January 2014 by acquiring Podorozhniki [20][21]
  • BlaBlaCar launches in Turkey in September 2014 [22]
  • BlaBlaCar launches in India in January 2015 [23]
  • BlaBlaCar launches in Mexico by buying Aventones in April 2015 [24]
  • BlaBlaCar expands into Hungary, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia through acquiring AutoHop [25]
  • In April 2015 BlaBlaCar acquired Carpooling.com [26]
  • BlaBlaCar launches in Brazil[6]
  • In 2016 BlaBlaCar expands into the Czech Republic and Slovakia [27]

Critical reception

BlaBlaCar has been awarded over 50 prizes and honours since its creation, including most recently a special prize from the Le Figaro for 'Best place to work: fun and performance'" according to INSEAD Business School.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wauters, Robin (14 January 2015). "BlaBlaCar brings its city-to-city ridesharing platform to India". Tech.eu. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  2. ^ a b Hickey, Shane (13 April 2014). "BlaBlaCar is to car hire what AirBnB is to the hotel industry". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  3. ^ Murad Ahmed, European Technology Correspondent (10 December 2014). "BlaBlaCar sets course to hit all points other than the US". FT.com. Retrieved 4 February 2016. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Sarkar, John (14 January 2015). "France's BlaBlaCar drives into India". Times of India. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  5. ^ Srsan, Marko (23 April 2015). "BlaBlaCar launches in Mexico". EU-Startups. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  6. ^ a b "BlaBlaCar moves into Brazil". the star. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
  7. ^ "Social Impact Lures MBA Grads To Sharing Economy Pioneers Like Airbnb". BusinessBecause. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  8. ^ "Blablacar's recipe for creating trust". Retrieved 2015-07-21.
  9. ^ "BlaBlaCar Review - April's Must Have Travel App". Retrieved 2015-07-21.
  10. ^ Cowan, Matt (14 April 2015). "BlaBlaCar has turned ride-sharing into a multi-million-euro business". Wired Magazine UK. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  11. ^ Scott, Mark (16 September 2015). "BlaBlaCar, a French Ride-Sharing Start-Up, Is Valued at $1.6 Billion". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  12. ^ Eaton, Kit (2015-08-05). "The International Answers to Uber and Lyft". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  13. ^ a b "BlaBlaCar has turned ride-sharing into a multi-million-euro business (Wired UK)". Retrieved 2015-09-17.
  14. ^ Chambers, Sam. "The Anti-Uber Way of Disrupting Transportation, Politely". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  15. ^ "3 Steps To Making Your Internet Business Go Global". Forbes.com. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  16. ^ "Need a ride? Carpooling platform Blablacar launches in the UK". TechCrunch. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  17. ^ "P2P ride sharing shifts gears: BlaBlaCar goes to Benelux, Portugal & Poland". Whiteboardmag.com. 23 October 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  18. ^ Ohr, Thomas (22 March 2012). "BlablaCar acquires Italian competitor PostoinAuto.it". EU-Startups. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  19. ^ Boogar, Liam (9 April 2013). "Ridesharing marketplace Blablacar launches in Germany - already 3 Million registered users in Europe". Rudebaguette.com. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  20. ^ Rigby, Sophie (25 June 2014). "French car-sharing service BlaBlaCar expands to Ukraine and Russia". Ukraine Digital News. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  21. ^ O'Hear, Steve (28 January 2014). "European Carpooling Site BlaBlaCar Rides Into Russia And Ukraine Via Acquisition". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  22. ^ Wauters, Robin (30 September 2014). "BlaBlaCar hits 10 million members, launches in Turkey". Tech.eu. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  23. ^ Ahmed, Murad (14 January 2015). "Ride-sharing service Blablacar launches in India". FT.com. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  24. ^ "French BlablaCar buys Mexican start-up Aventones". NXTP Labs. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  25. ^ Ahmed, Murad (15 April 2015). "BlaBlaCar buys ride-sharing competitors to lock in European lead". FT.com. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  26. ^ Divac, Natascha (15 April 2015). "France's BlaBlaCar Buys Two Carpooling Rivals - Digits - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  27. ^ "Jízdomat.cz". Jizdomat.cz. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  28. ^ "Alumni Entrepreneur Profile: Frédéric Mazzella 07D" (PDF). INSEAD. April 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2016.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blablacar (company).
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