The Lyft logo is seen in these illustration tasks on June 27, 2022.
Given ruvic | Reuters
Transport signature Lyft On Wednesday, he announced that he is buying the Application of European Taxi Freeow in an agreement of 175 million euros ($ 199 million).
The company said that the acquisition, the first of Lyft in Europe, closes in the second half of 2025, and that, once combined, the two companions will serve 50 million users combined annually.
Founded in 2009 as Mytaxi, Freeow is a Hamburg -based transport platform, Germany. The company has been a joint property of German automotive giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz since 2019.
The application is available in 150 cities in nine countries, including Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Beyond the traditional services of taxis and travel transport, Freeow also sacrifices other mobility options, including electronic scooters, electronic maps and electronic bicycles.
The startup is positive for profits based on profits before interest, debt and amortization, generating gross reserves of more than one billion euros in 2024, according to an informative sheet of the company.
‘Now is the time’
Freeow’s acquisition will give Lyft a route to expand to the highly competitive European transport market, where he will face the tastes of SuperEstonias Bolt and Israel’s Gett.
The CEO of Lyft, David Rise, told CNBC that the company is only entering Europe that saw the opportunity to expand after constantly improving the service in North America.
By pointing out that on Thursday he will mark his two -year anniversary as CEO of Lyft, Risher said: “When I started, unfortunately, we were losing participation, we were losing money. We are having a great time for drivers or drivers.”
“Now, we collect it approximately a faster minute, driver’s cancellation has dropped to less than 5%, drivers are earning billions of dollars on the platform. And our Canada operation has doubled this year.”
He added: “Then, looking at the strong levels of service, observing the fact that international, within Canada, we are doing it quite well. Now we said:” Do you know what is time? “
The closest domestic rival of Lyft, Uber, has a legal advantage in the company, which was first launched in the United Kingdom in 2012. Since then, it has been harassed by a series of regulatory problems.
London transport regulators tried to prohibit Uber twice about security concerns. The company received a new license to continue operating in the city in 2022.
