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This article was published September 17, 2015 at 10:28.
The last change is the 17 September 2015 at 11:26.
“If there is a dividing line that marks the boundaries of the sharing economy pure, no doubt we are in this. ” Andrea Saviane, 32 year-old from Treviso, country manager BlaBlaCar (the company famous passages in the car) says it with composure mixed with pride. And besides, with all the confusion that has arisen around the economic model based on sharing, establish distances it seems a mission. “Uber? No, that’s another thing.
We work on long distance. And then our business model is not on-demand. ” Why the taxi drivers do not have it with BlaBlaCar? “Of course, we offer a service that, if desired, is complementary. Imagine a user who arrives from Rome to Milan with us and then take a taxi to move around the city. I say that happens often. ”
This exclusive chat with Saviane takes a few hours from one of the most important moments in the history of BlaBlaCar. A loan of 200 million euro which, cards in hand, ranks first among the funding to a European company. A startup, with its offices in Milan where “the atmosphere is from the garage.” We said the 200 million. A Series D round dizzying coming from American and Swedish lenders: Insight Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital with the participation of New Vostok Ventures. The aim of the funding is clear: “To support the rapid growth of the service in established markets – says Saviane – and its take-off in new markets.” The round makes BlaBlaCar a European startups that have attracted more support from investors, given the more than 300 million dollars raised to date by the company was born in Paris.
But back to Saviane. In BlaBlaCar he arrived in 2013, as Director of Marketing. Then a rapid rise to the role of Country Manager. And today is experiencing firsthand the most important change of the platform. BlaBlaCar is introducing in Italy the online payment system. A system that makes the service much more effective, but which also introduces commission costs to users (passengers), ranging from 10 to 15% of the cost of the route, based on the length of this. No drop, however, in the records of the activities: “Year-on-year (2014 over 2013 ed) we recorded in Italy a + 300% as the number of users,” says Saviane that – as from habit of big company – but does not provide the specific numbers, “Italy is definitely an important market. Also because we – he added – the cost of fuel is among the highest in Europe, and then there’s the cost of highways.
This is why in Italy the journey shared works. Globally we have 20 million registered users in 19 countries where we are present, with an average of 10 million passengers each quarter. ” The legs of the most successful in Italy? “We provide a very comprehensive, but the Milan-Venice, Rome-Naples and Milan-Bologna are certainly those most traveled.” The average age of Italian BlaBlaCar user is 31 years old, and from the point of view of the passengers there is complete equality between men and women. Side drivers, however, outweigh the male figures. And taxes? “The company has a head office only, and one in Paris. The VAT, for Italy, of course we pay in Italy. The IRS is French. From the point of view of taxes, however, our costs are still more of our revenues. So we stay away from the no-tax area. ” And even that is synonymous with sharing economy. The real one, though. And whether it is sustainable or not, we will see in a few years. biagiosimonetta
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