One of France biggest startups and
amongst the world’s largest carpool companies wants to revolutionize the way
Indians Travel. BlaBlaCar, the city-to-city ridesharing service available
across Europe, Russia, and Turkey, has arrived in India on January 14, 2015.
The company is opening its ninth office in the capital city and it had plans to
expand into India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
As in its other 13 other markets in
which over two million people use its service, BlaBlaCar lets drivers offers
ride from one city to another, and share the cost with co-travelers who sign up
for the journey making the trip more affordable than traveling separately. It
has launched services in Delhi and Gurgaon on Wednesday. India is the first
stop in Asia, for the 10-year-old company that has built an online community of
10 Million across 13 countries so far.
Last July, it received $100 Million
in funding from a slew of investors including Accel Partners and Index
Ventures, when it first announced its interest in emerging markets including
India, Brazil, and Turkey. Unlike taxi aggregators who have been asked to
register as radio taxi operators, carpooling services in India are not bound by
regulation yet. Brazil Tripda, which is backed by German Incubator Rocket Internet,
launched its Indian operations last November by offering ride sharing between
cities. Meanwhile, a number of local players like RidingO, SmartMumbaikar, and
ZingHopper, offer similar services in India.
BlaBlaCar, which draws its quirky
name from one of the features that users display on their profile on the
company’s platform, expects users to log in using their Facebook profile. They
can often choose the driver they want to ride with based on profiles. In Spain,
Poland, and France, BlaBlaCar charges an 11% commission on each ride per
person. In India too, commuters will have to sign on through their Facebook
profile, and book a ride with a driver they are likely to be comfortable with.
While the service will be free for the first year, the company will later take
a percentage out of every booking.
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