Germany-based mobility platform Freenow has been acquired by US ride-hailing specialist Lyft from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility in a deal worth \u20ac175 million.<\/p>\n
Nasdaq-listed Lyft, which is one of the major rivals to Uber in the US, said the deal was its \u201cmost significant expansion outside North America\u201d.<\/p>\n
David Risher, CEO of Lyft, added: \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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found the perfect partner in Freenow and can learn a lot from the team. Freenow\u2019s local-first approach mirrors Lyft’s values and embodies our purpose – to serve and connect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The combined businesses will serve more than 50 million passengers across Europe and North America, and the addition of Freenow will add around \u20ac1 billion in gross annual bookings to Lyft\u2019s overall sales.<\/p>\n
Freenow will continue to be \u201cfocused on taxi services\u201d, which it currently offers in more than 150 cities across nine European countries, including Germany, Spain, Ireland and the UK.<\/p>\n
Taxis accounted for 90 per cent of Freenow\u2019s bookings in 2024 and will \u201ccontinue to be the backbone\u201d of its business.\u00a0The platform also offers private hire vehicles, ridesharing, car rental, public transport, as well as electric scooters, bikes and mopeds.<\/p>\n
Thomas Zimmermann, Freenow\u2019s CEO, added: \u201cJoining forces with Lyft is a powerful step forward for Freenow and marks the beginning of an ambitious new phase – one where we strengthen our role as a leading force in European mobility.<\/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.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Freenow told BTN Europe: \u201cThere will be no immediate changes to Freenow and it will continue to operate as it does today. Over time, the companies will focus on integration for riders to seamlessly use either app across the Atlantic, whether they\u2019re in North America or Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025 \u201csubject to customary closing conditions\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Germany-based mobility platform Freenow has been acquired by US ride-hailing specialist Lyft from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3091],"tags":[51,16648,2441,13135,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-27543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ground-transport","10":"tag-markets","11":"tag-rss2","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114353375180631695","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27543","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=27543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}