{"id":25542,"date":"2025-04-16T19:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/25542\/"},"modified":"2025-04-16T19:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:26:08","slug":"lyft-enters-europe-with-e175m-acquisition-of-ride-hailing-provider-freenow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/25542\/","title":{"rendered":"Lyft enters Europe with \u20ac175M acquisition of ride-hailing provider FreeNow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ride-hailing platform Lyft<\/a> will establish its presence in Europe by acquiring Germany-based mobility provider\u00a0FreeNow<\/a>\u00a0for \u20ac175 million.<\/p>\n

The deal is anticipated to closed in the second half of this year, \u201csubject to customary closing conditions,\u201d Lyft said in a release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previously, Lyft\u2019s ride-hailing operations were exclusive to the United States and Canada, but with this acquisition they will be available in a total of 11 countries, including Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Poland, France and Austria.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2009 and currently owned by BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility, FreeNow operates in more than 150 European cities. While it’s described as a \u201ctaxi-first business,” the platform also allows users to book private hire vehicles, care sharing, e-scooters and e-bikes, among other options.<\/p>\n

In 2024, taxis accounted for 90% of the app\u2019s gross bookings, and taxis will remain the \u201cbackbone of FreeNow\u2019s business,\u201d Lyft said in a release. There will be no immediate change to the FreeNow customer experience, but additional benefits\u2014such as additional earnings transparency for drivers and more consistent pricing for riders\u2014will be added in the future, Lyft said.<\/p>\n

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The company also noted the acquisition will double its total addressable market to over 300 billion personal trips annually and increase annualized gross bookings by \u20ac1 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on an ambitious path to build the best, most customer-obsessed mobility platform in the world, and entering Europe is an important step in our growth journey,\u201d said\u00a0David Risher, CEO of Lyft. \u201cWe found the perfect partner in FreeNow and can learn a lot from the team. FreeNow’s local-first approach mirrors Lyft’s values and embodies our purpose\u2014to serve and connect.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Lyft, approximately half of taxi bookings in Europe currently happen offline, but customers are \u201chungry\u201d for access to online taxi bookings.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoining forces with Lyft is a powerful step forward for FreeNow and marks the beginning of an ambitious new phase\u2014one where we strengthen our role as a leading force in European mobility,\u201d said\u00a0FreeNow CEO Thomas Zimmermann.<\/p>\n

\u201cLyft’s strong, customer-first track record aligns perfectly with our deep roots in the taxi industry, and together we will push boundaries and raise expectations for fleet owners, taxi drivers, and riders across the continent. We stand with the industry\u2014not above it\u2014and remain proud partners of the community. This collaboration is about combining our strengths, learning from each other and scaling what works best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyft said the move will \u201cimmediately fuel its growth strategy\u201d and better position it for future partnerships. <\/p>\n

While Uber<\/a>\u2014which operates globally\u2014remains the Lyft’s biggest competitor, Estonia-based mobility app Bolt<\/a> is also growing in Europe.<\/p>\n

Bolt made headlines in recent years after securing several multi-million dollar rounds of funding<\/a>. Last month, it\u00a0expanded operations<\/a> by acquiring Denmark-based electric vehicle ride-hailing service Viggo. Also in March, Bolt introduced a new feature for flight tracking<\/a>, providing users with rides as soon as they arrive at their destination airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ride-hailing platform Lyft will establish its presence in Europe by acquiring Germany-based mobility provider\u00a0FreeNow\u00a0for \u20ac175 million. The deal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,474,15601,15598,8081,15599,547,12,3669,15603,15602,15600],"class_list":{"0":"post-25542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-ground-transportation","13":"tag-home-2nd-tier","14":"tag-investments","15":"tag-lyft","16":"tag-mobile","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-online","19":"tag-travel-booking","20":"tag-travel-planning","21":"tag-uber"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114349289287003650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}