Blablacar Tackles Commute, Grows Ride-Share Challenge to Uber
- Car-sharing application to add short-distance routes
- Privately held French company now has 40 million users
An employee walks in a corridor in the headquarter offices of BlaBlaCar, operated by Comuto SA, in Paris, France, on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015. Ride-sharing application BlaBlaCar has raised $200 million in funding, bringing the French company's valuation to $1.6 billion as it attempts to expand into new markets and help keep up with growth after its community of drivers more than doubled last year.
Photographer: Christophe Morin/BloombergBlablacar, the car-sharing application that lets drivers split the cost of long-distance trips with passengers, is expanding into short-distance routes by tending to daily commutes to work and back.
"Most people use Blablacar to go away for the weekend or head out on holidays," founder Frederic Mazzella said Tuesday in a press conference in Paris. "There’s huge potential for daily ride-sharing to work and back, which so far hasn’t materialized for lack of tools or habit."