How BlaBlaCar created a global transport network

BlaBlaCar's global headquarters occupy three floors of the "#Cloud" building in Paris

A rail strike is a strange time to realise that your start-up is going to be a success but that was the moment that the founders of BlaBlaCar knew that their company was going to take off. 

BlaBlaCar is the French online ride-sharing company that pairs people travelling between cities with drivers who have empty seats in their car.

Nicolas Brusson, co-founder of BlaBlaCar, says the company sticks closer to the ethos of the "sharing economy" than Uber or Airbnb

The ash cloud rising from a volcano on Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier grounded planes across Europe in 2010

When it was set up in 2006, founders Nicolas Brusson and Frederic Mazzella found it difficult to persuade customers or investors of the idea.


"People thought we were crazy. At the beginning they would say, 'it's interesting but you're doing hitchhiking online and no-one's going to do that,'" Mr Brusson says.

The popularity and success of BlaBlaCar today is likely to make any investor who turned them down 10 years ago cry into their cornflakes. Mr Brusson confirms to the BBC that the latest round of funding values the company at more than £1.2bn ($1.5bn; €1.4bn).

The company makes its money by taking a percentage of the cost of the journeys taken by its 35 million members in 22 countries. It says four million people use BlaBlaCar every month.

A series of 'fortunate, unfortunate' events

The company's big break came in 2007 when the French train network was shut down by a strike and passengers were looking for alternative ways of travelling.

BlaBlaCar saw a massive boost, not only in its usage but also to its profile as media companies lined up to cover the strike-busting solution.

"It was the first time I realised it was very useful," Mr Brusson says. "After this spike the passenger numbers went down but to a much higher level than before, a lot of people came back."