Blablacar raises €101M, to acquire Ouibus: French unicorn moves beyond carpooling, plans foray in bus service

In its latest announcement, French popular carpooling platform Blablacar has rolled-out an offer to the French Railway’s SNCF Bus Division subsidiary Ouibus for an acquisition. This will be their second major investment plan of the year. In August 2018, BeepCar, the ride-sharing giant from Russia was also acquired by BlaBlaCar from Mail.ru.

Blablacar also raises €101m funding

The current acquisition value remains undisclosed for Ouibus, but the French startup has also got funding of €101 million through SNCF and other investors of Blablacar which will transform long-distance road travel in France and Europe in days to come by combining the strengths of Blablacar and Ouibus.

While Blablacar has footprints originating in 2006, it has now shaped itself as the world-leader in carpooling marketplace serving, a community spread of over 65 million in 22 countries. The company has some subsidiaries like Jízdomat.cz, carpooling.com GmbH, Podorozhniki, AutoHop, Redes de Aventones S.A.P.I. de C.V. and is on a constant look-out for partnering opportunities to enhance its mobility solutions for its community members worldwide

Why foray in bus service with Ouibus?

The expansion plans of Blablacar are targeted towards customers who are looking for long-distance intercity travel in Europe through its web and mobile platforms. Since Ouibus has tremendous access point network in Europe, the synergy with Blablacar would help passengers with real-time cost-effective ridesharing solutions and better occupancy optimisation along with less CO2 emissions. Through the recently secured funding estimated around €101 million by Blablacar, it opens new partnership avenues for other bus operators in Europe.

Blablacar: 40% YoY growth

Blablacar was founded in the year 2006 in Paris, France. Frédéric Mazzella is the Founder and President of BlaBlaCar worldwide while Nicolas Brusson is the co-founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar. Francis Nappez is the last among its three co-founders. The company has around 600 employees worldwide and 40 million members.

Paris-based unicorn has gained massive initial funding of around €304 million and has reported 5 million app downloads in just the 2nd quarter of 2018, and it is growing rapidly at 40% year-on-year.

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