Lyft takes his bravest international step to date by purchasing the European Taxi Hail platform Freenow from the German automotive giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz for around 175 million euros ($ 197.4 million). The deal marks Lyft’s first expansion of its chassis business beyond North America and positions the company based in San Francisco to compete more directly with Uber on a global level. So far, Lyft’s international presence was limited to bicycle and scooter programs, including Santander cycles in London. With Freenow on board, Lyft enters into more than 150 European cities, which includes nine countries-in one thing-the most important markets such as London, Berlin, Barcelona, Athens and Hamburg.
Freenow, owned by the German car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes-Benz, came from a joint venture of € 1 billion mobility, which was introduced under the former Daimler and BMW partnership in 2019. This company included other services such as Shalenow (Carsharing), Chargenow (EV charge) and ParkRnow (parking lot), all of which aim to build a robust European counterweight. However, the OEMs began to dismantle the company in 2022 and sell Shalenow as part of a strategic realignment to Stellantis. In 2020, a rumor was in circulation that was apparently interested in buying Freenow with a registered value of 1.2 billion US dollars.
The Freenow business model differentiates it from competitors. Instead of disturbing the local taxi services, they are summarized in addition to private preparations and premium vehicles. According to Lyft, taxis accounted for around 90% of Freenow’s coarse bookings in 2024, and this mixture remains of central importance for its European strategy. Freenow achieved a break-even status last year, which was increased by increasing sales of 13% and emphasizing cooperation with licensed taxi companies.
Despite the acquisition, Freenow will keep its brand identity for the time being. However, Lyft indicated that a rebrand can be considered in the future if the companies work towards deeper integration. The cooperation model of Freenow-Die regulation and the traditional taxi fleet-caused it to avoid many of the legal hurdles that have met Uber in cities such as London and Paris.
[Source: Reuters]
