The Paris-based ride-sharing platform BlaBlaCar has raised $100 million in a Series C investment round, and says it will use the funding to break out of Europe. Its last round, in early 2012, totalled $10 million.
BlaBlaCar already has 8 million members in 12 European countries, and it claims that over a million customers share rides each month. The company focuses on long-distance journeys that might otherwise be undertaken using coaches, trains or planes, which often work out pricier.
CEO Frédéric Mazzella said in a statement:
"Since founding the company, we have shaken up the long distance travel market in Europe and built an active and loyal community. This investment will help us accelerate to build a trusted people-powered transport network right across the globe."
It remains to be seen how keen the rest of the world is on the long-distance ride-sharing idea, though. Certainly in the U.S., previous efforts have not fared so well, as evidenced by Lyft's sale of Zimride last year.
BlaBlaCar also faces competition from European rival Carpooling.com, which took around $10 million investment from Daimler a couple years ago, largely in order to break into the U.S. market.
The new BlaBlaCar round was led by Index Ventures, with existing investors Accel partners, Lead Edge Capital and ISAI also participating.