France-based ride sharing service BlaBlaCar has acquired Germany-based competitor Carpooling.com for an undisclosed amount, giving an exit to automotive manufacturer Daimler, VentureBeat reported on Tuesday.
Founded in 2001 as Mikini Media, Carpooling’s ride sharing service has 6 million registered users spanning 40 countries and also integrates with selected local bus, rail and flight offers.
Daimler invested $10m in Carpooling in 2012, representing its last publicly disclosed funding. Company founders Michael Reinicke, Matthias Siedler and Stefan Weber retained the largest stake in Carpooling following the round
The company’s other notable shareholder was Earlybird Venture Capital, which invested undisclosed sums in 2009 and 2011.
The acquisition increased BlaBlaCar’s customer base to 20 million members across 18 markets in Europe and Asia, and was made alongside the purchase of Hungary-based competitor Autohop. BlaBlaCar’s chief operating officer, Nicolas Brusson, told VentureBeat it will now look to expand in Latin America and Asia.
Brusson added: “We have seen the service working in so many countries.
“If we could scale fast enough or acquire companies fast enough, we could expand around the world even faster.”