BlablaCar.com celebrates one billion miles shared with $10 million funding led by Accel
TweetBlablaCar, the leading marketplace that connects any driver who has empty seats with paying passengers, announced it has received $10m from Accel Partners and existing investors ISAI and Cabiedes & Partners. The funds will be used to accelerate the growth of BlablaCar’s European businesses.
With over 1.6m users, BlablaCar is Europe’s most active online collaborative consumption community. In an age where the average car carries just 1.2 people, BlablaCar’s ambition is to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles by rationalising people’s use of cars.
In the past few years, BlablaCar’s service has experienced an explosive growth, reaching:
- 1.6m members, including 400,000 drivers offering their empty seats
- One billion miles collectively shared by the community
- 8m passengers transported with more than half in the last 12 months
- 40m page views per month
While the service has benefited from both high petrol prices and increasing travel fares, research conducted on BlablaCar.com reveals that members widely use the service for other reasons such as meeting new people or simply choosing a more eco-friendly travel option.
We hired our first employee in 2009 and in a few years we have built a trusted community of 1.6m members sharing their car journeys across Europe. The business continues to grow at an exceptional rate.We are delighted that a top tier fund such as Accel Partners is backing us to lead this travel revolution in Europe.
Frederic Mazzella, CEO of BlablaCar
Our service is redefining the way people use their car and travel. The majority of our users are buying unused car seats for journeys of 100 miles, a much cheaper alternative than the train or airplane and representing on average a 70% discount. BlablaCar is spearheading the growth in collaborative travel, an innovative model that will change the travel market in the coming years.
Nicolas Brusson, COO of BlablaCar
We are thrilled to lead this investment and back the BlablaCar team led by cofounders Frederic Mazzella, Francis Nappez and Nicolas Brusson. Their vision of a European peer-2-peer travel community is disrupting the way people travel by offering a more environmentally friendly, cheaper and social travel alternative. The growth and engagement of their community is very exciting and suggests a huge untapped market opportunity.
Philippe Botteri of Accel Partners
We are very pleased with BlablaCar's progress since we first invested in spring 2010. This was the first investment of our entrepreneurs' fund and having Accel leading our first follow-on round is a great milestone. The company's model has been invented in Continental Europe and made BlablaCar the undisputed leader in this market!
Jean-David Chamboredon, CEO of ISAI