Ridesharing platform BlaBlaCar has closed a $200m Series D investment round led by Insight Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital.
The round, which also involved Vostok New Ventures, takes BlaBlaCar’s total funding to date to over $300m.
With over 20 million members in 19 countries, BlaBlaCar has brought ridesharing to the mainstream, creating an affordable way to travel between cities that is entirely based on wasted car capacity – i.e. empty seats.
The service connects people looking to travel long distances with drivers already going the same way, so both can save money by sharing the cost of their journey.
BlaBlaCar’s founder and CEO, Frédéric Mazzella, said: “It has been exhilarating to see our vision resonate with so many people globally, as BlaBlaCar’s community has rapidly scaled and flourished in every new market.
“We’ve built a unique activity based on the values of true sharing, and this funding will help unleash even more of its potential over the coming years.”
Since raising $100m in July 2014, BlaBlaCar has become truly global, expanding across three continents into seven new countries, including three emerging markets – Turkey, India and Mexico.
Already well-established in Europe, it consolidated the market with three acquisitions in Germany, Mexico and Eastern Europe, including the April 2015 acquisition of carpooling.com, then the world’s second-largest ridesharing service.
The latest round comes in response to accelerated growth in Europe and a rapid take-off in emerging markets, where demand is being fuelled by gaps in public transport provision and the high cost of owning and running a car.
BlaBlaCar will use the investment to support this continued growth, as well as backing future expansion. Currently, the company has its sights on Brazil, Asia and additional markets in Latin America.
Nicolas Brusson, BlaBlaCar’s co-founder and COO, said: “We have built a highly efficient new way to travel, spread over three continents and already used by over 10 million people every quarter.
“With this additional investment, we’ll be able to accelerate our growth in new and established markets, continuing to build the largest people-powered transport community in the world. This financing is a significant step closer to transforming mobility on a global scale.”
Jeff Horing, managing director at Insight Venture Partners, joins the board. He added: “I’m delighted to join Frédéric, Francis, Nicolas and the team at this pivotal moment.
“They have rapidly succeeded in building a unique service and scaling it globally. It’s rare to find a company whose usage volumes are already massive even though it’s only the beginning of a much bigger story.”
This investment follows a €1.25 million Series A led by ISAI (2011), a $10 million Series B led by Accel Partners (2012), and a $100 million Series C led by Index Ventures (2014).