BlaBlaCar, the world’s largest long-distance ridesharing community, today announces its launch in Brazil. It is the company’s first market in South America and second market in the Americas, following a successful launch in Mexico earlier this year.Brazil is the first country to join the BlaBlaCar community after the company’s $200 million Series D investment round in September.
Brazil has huge potential for affordable city-to-city ridesharing, as travelling by car is prohibitively expensive for much of the country’s population. Brazil has the highest toll-road fees in the world, and Brazilians have suffered from rapidly-increasing fuel prices. Today, 18 percent of a day’s wages are needed to purchase a gallon of gas, based on Brazil’s daily average income. Now with the BlaBlaCar platform, Brazilians will have access to affordable, city-to-city, social travel options that optimize the capacity of the country’s 50M+ cars.
BlaBlaCar’s Brazilian team, based in Sao Paulo, forms the company’s 13th international office. The local team is currently working on marketing and communication to help build the service’s Brazilian community of drivers and passengers looking to share the costs of long-distance travel.
Nicolas Brusson, co-founder and COO of BlaBlaCar, says: “We’re thrilled to be launching BlaBlaCar in Brazil today and by the prospect of making city-to-city ridesharing second nature for Brazil’s 205 million inhabitants, many of whom are in need of affordable transport. BlaBlaCar is well-versed in launching and rapidly building communities in new markets, and we look forward to bringing this knowledge to Brazil with the help of a stellar local team.”
Ricardo Leite, Brazil’s country manager, says: “BlaBlaCar has a powerful track record of bringing ridesharing to new markets around the world, as well as pioneering features designed for improved safety, convenience and trust. We are excited to be offering Brazilians up and down the country the chance to make their long-distance journeys more enjoyable and cost-effective by sharing.”
Frédéric Mazzella, founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar, adds: “Today’s launch in Brazil, our second country in Latin America after Mexico, brings us one step closer to our goal of bringing a cost-effective transport alternative to all those that need it worldwide. Ridesharing is seeing phenomenal adoption on a global scale and is not only fundamentally changing the way we use our cars but is also impactingthe way we relate to one another.”
Today’s launch sees the company active in 20 countries: Benelux, Brazil, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
