French tech startup BlaBlaCar that develops a marketplace for shared travel announced that it has raised €100 million in a debt financing round. The credit line was provided by BNP Paribas and Société Générale, Citi, JP Morgan, and HSBC.
- Founded in 2006 by Francis Nappez, Frédéric Mazzella, and Nicolas Brusson, Paris-based BlaBlaCar develops a platform that connects passengers wanting to travel to a specific destination with drivers going the same way, sharing the cost of the trip. Both platform and application are designed to establish a safe, trust-based community with announced identities and detailed member profiles.
- The company has offices in 12 different countries and operates in 22 European nations along with Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, and India.
- BlaBlaCar claims that 80 million passengers booked a bus or carpool ride on BlaBlaCar in 2023, representing an increase of 23% growth in revenue compared to 2022. By 2023, BlaBlaCar helped reduce the carbon footprint of travel by 2 million tons of CO2. Moreover, Brazil and India experienced a triple-digit growth rate as emerging markets.
- Furthermore, the company declares that it has produced profits of €253 million, representing a 29% increase over the prior year. This achievement marks the initiation of a new phase of profitable growth, as the company has sustained profitability for two consecutive years and closed the year with a positive EBITDA.
“Moving forward, the way we operate is geared towards achieving profitable growth as a fundamental principle. This milestone demonstrates BlaBlaCar’s maturity and financial stability. Nevertheless, we must remain humble: there’s still a long way to go in our journey to make travel more sustainable and humane. This step allows us to pursue our mission with confidence. Today, it enables us to finance new projects, encourage new innovations and explore new acquisitions,” co-founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar, Nicolas Brusson, stated in the release.
Future plans
As Nicolas Brusson told TechCrunch, BlaBlaCar plans to add train tickets for users to be able to purchase them in the upcoming year. Combining the idea of using trains and carpooling to complete the journey, almost door-to-door.
“The idea is to connect train stations with your destination. Typically, if you arrive at Vannes station, you often need to get to your grandmother’s house, your vacation home, your weekend getaway. You still have between 10 km and 40 km to go,” Brusson added.
The company is going to connect BlaBlaCar users who are driving in that direction with a group of people at the train station and drop them off at their destination. With that method, the company arranged the whole journey using the train and BlaBlaCar.
With the €100 million financing, BlaBlaCar will work towards pursuing a growth strategy, and combining multiple modes of shared transportation around the globe.
