BlaBlaCar to raise $160m from Insight et al.

José Rojo
09 September 2015

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Paris-headquartered online car-sharing service BlaBlaCar is understood to be nearing an agreement for a $160m fourth round from Insight Venture Partners alongside a number of business angels.

According to press reports, Insight Venture Partners is to act as standalone institutional investor for the round, with additional capital coming from several entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, BlaBlaCar's existing shareholders Index Ventures, Accel Partners, Isai and Lead Edge Capital are believed not to have taken part in the financing, reports stated.

The four investors are shareholders in the company after backing a $100m round led by Index Ventures in July 2014, which was at the time the latest in a wave of investments in the European car-sharing space.

Isai's involvement with BlaBlaCar dates back to 2010, when it led a €1m seed funding round for the business. Two years later, the VC was joined by Accel Partners during a $10m series-A led by the latter.

Founded in 2006 by Frédéric Mazzella, Francis Nappez and Nicolas Brusson, BlaBlaCar has grown exponentially since inception and is understood to have broken the €1.2bn valuation mark in the run-up to the current round.

The company's funding round in 2014 came on the back of swift expansion across Russia, Germany and nine other countries via a series of bolt-on acquisitions. The build-up strategy has remained in place since that date – the latest purchases involved Earlybird-owned Carpooling in Germany, its biggest competitor in Europe; and Hungary-headquartered Autohop.

Should it be confirmed, the current round for BlaBlaCar would be the largest to be witnessed by unquote" in the French startup ecosystem so far in 2015. The $160m round size would push it far ahead of the €100m injection into network operator Sigfox by a consortium of VCs in February, currently sitting at the top of the league table.

The transaction illustrates the mounting popularity for private rounds in excess of $100m – as opposed to a flotation on the public market – for so-called "unicorns" in recent weeks.

The trend, explored by unquote" last month, mirrors the surge in French startup financing, uncovered by recent EY research in H1 2015. According to the document, the segment reaped €759m in funding in the period, almost a 70% increase on the €450m mark it had hovered around since 2013.