blablacar.com, as data

Nicolas Brusson and Philippe Botteri at the Web Summit## Creating enduring valueUnafraid of share dilution, Nicolas has always been an avid believer in raising money to create enduring value and to give the company a real shot at global leadership. At the same time, his Silicon Valley days have shown him the critical importance of staying capital efficient and to not spend money too fast.With BlaBlaCar operating in France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy and Poland, the objective of the next fundraise was to accelerate expansion in order to become the global leader in long-distance carpooling. In July 2014, the team raised a round of $100 million in funding led by Index Ventures, along with prior investors Accel Partners and ISAI, with Lead Edge Capital participating. At that moment, it was the largest-ever round of venture capital raised by a French startup. The founders even received a phone call from the French President congratulating them. It was a humbling moment to see just how far they’d come over the years.BlaBlaCar is active in 22 countriesSoon BlaBlaCar had 20 million members in its community and had expanded into Russia and Ukraine. In 2015, they raised a further $200m with Insight Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Vostok New Ventures. This massive cash injection allowed BlaBlaCar to expand much further internationally. It thoroughly fueled their global growth and reinforced their capacity to innovate and improve their service in order to consolidate existing markets, whilst also putting BlaBlaCar on the map as a Unicorn.Joining the list of billion-dollar startups and becoming one of the first Unicorns in France was a significant milestone for the team. But instead of the founders getting blinded by this status, they sent out a company-wide email to thank everyone for their hard work and relentless passion. In it, they also reminded people that an exciting journey lies ahead in building a global travel network and bringing value to all.Even though BlaBlaCar now operates in 22 countries across 3 continents and connects millions of drivers with empty seats to passengers travelling in the same direction, the team continues to study what information drives the facts when faced with key decisions. Understanding the right metrics and staying true to the “Vanity :( Sanity :| Reality :)” value is what keeps things in check at BlaBlaCar.