Blablacar is now known to everyone: a carpooling platform, it offers a place in the car of an individual in exchange for cost sharing. It is now the world leader in this area: in France, of course, but also in 21 other countries, including Germany, Italy, Russia, India and Brazil. France only represents 20% of its activity.
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On Thursday, the company announced that its sales were up 71%, a meteoric increase. The more it grows, the more efficient the service, because it always becomes easier to find a car to get to any destination. Success calling for success, the platform is now an indestructible leader.
No competition from the Americans
But this success of a French digital company is an exception. Blablacar is very fortunate not to meet American competition in this area. In the United States, cheap gasoline and free highways do not encourage the development of carpooling. In their absence, Blablacar has been able, in thirteen years, to prosper and develop independently until it became a world leader.
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Unlike all the other French start-ups, from Price Minister to Meetic via Drivy, Blablacar has not been "swallowed" by the American web giants. The predation of the latter must however alert us and make us ask ourselves a question: are we doomed to remain a digital colony?