BlaBlaCar is an iconic name within the French startup ecosystem. The carpooling and bus ticketing company has been in the marketplace for thus long that it might probably not be considered a startup. Still, BlaBlaCar is an especially interesting company today due to its unique trajectory.
What began as a vibrant online community of hitchhikers was a startup that raised a whole lot of tens of millions and achieved unicorn status. It then expanded its operations to many countries on several continents before scaling back its ambitions and beginning to take into consideration profitability.
Today, the corporate proclaims that it has obtained a secured revolving credit facility in the quantity of €100 million ($108 million at today’s exchange rates). This will provide it with a latest war chest with which to plan for the longer term and proceed to grow, including through acquisitions.
“Debt is a tool that is relatively attractive, non-dilutive and at the same time very flexible,” Brusson told us. The €100 million credit line is obtainable to several large banks in France, the UK and the US
BlaBlaCar doesn’t pay interest for now since it has not yet used the debt limit. Brusson, nonetheless, said he plans to make use of the debt facility to amass smaller corporations. As many startups struggle to boost one other round of funding, BlaBlaCar will have the ability to step in and acquire these smaller corporations.
Profit from the last 24 months
Although BlaBlaCar isn’t a public company, it’s slowly accepting that it could share some data publicly. In this manner, BlaBlaCar can reveal for the primary time that it has achieved profitability – in actual fact, it has been profitable since April 2022.
This milestone must come as a huge relief, as 2023 has been a difficult 12 months for French startups – aside from working on AI-based products, after all.
“The whole business is profitable. We have been profitable for almost two years,” co-founder and CEO Nicolas Brusson told TechCrunch. “2022 was the primary almost full 12 months after Covid-19, except possibly the primary two months. We recorded revenues of EUR 195 million. We ended the 12 months mainly within the red, but that was often because the primary quarter was terrible.
“But starting in the second quarter of 2022 and beyond, we were profitable. Then in 2023 our revenues increased to over 250 million euros. So we’re seeing a little less than 30% revenue growth and yet we’re still profitable.”
Profitability can mean various things to different people. Many corporations like to say that they’re profitable although they speak about it EBITDA — a financial measure that doesn’t keep in mind the prices related to a company’s assets. And Brusson is a bit fed up with corporations pretending to be profitable but actually losing money yearly.
In the case of BlaBlaCar, the corporate was profitable on an EBITDA basis, however it also generates a net profit when the whole lot is taken under consideration – BlaBlaCar doesn’t own passenger cars or buses anyway.
In 2023, 80 million passengers booked a bus or ride with BlaBlaCar. The excellent news is that BlaBlaCar users are all around the world – not only in France.
“Brazil is larger than France in terms of number of users. “I think India will be bigger than France in terms of ridesharing next year,” Brusson said.
The company has not yet began monetizing its users in India, Brazil, Mexico or Turkey – it doesn’t apply any cuts to travel-sharing transactions. It will regularly add booking fees, which will even help increase the corporate’s revenue.
One wrinkle is Russia. When the war in Ukraine broke out, BlaBlaCar had tens of millions of users in Russia. Although many technology corporations have decided to sell their Russian subsidiaries, BlaBlaCar’s Russian business has been completely separated from the remainder of the business, but BlaBlaCar has no plans to sell it. Brusson argues that this might be counterproductive because it will essentially mean handing it over to its Russian owner.
“Today it is less than 5% of revenue, so it is quite small. It is still part of the group but is completely isolated and independently managed… The company is completely separate from the group. But if you want to sell it, in the current context, it’s like giving it away.”
Adding train tickets
In Europe, BlaBlaCar desires to aggregate all ground transportation methods. In addition to rideshare and bus rides, the corporate plans so as to add train tickets. Users will have the ability to buy tickets sometime next 12 months.
– Our idea is to mix it with carpooling. So we are going to have the ability to supply train travel and shared travel – almost door to door,” Brusson said.
Even in case you don’t book one other BlaBlaCar train ride, the corporate can also be experimenting with last-mile carpooling. “Then we now have one other model for barely shorter distances. The idea is to attach train stations to your destination. Typically, in case you arrive at Vannes Station, you frequently must get to Grandma’s house, holiday home or weekend getaway. You still have 10 to 40 km to go,” he noted.
Since many BlaBlaCar users are already traveling on this direction, the corporate will ping these drivers to see in the event that they can pick up a group of individuals from the train station and drop them off at their destination.
In non-European markets, the largest opportunity is bus travel. “The good news for us in these markets is that the bus industry remains a very fragmented and inactive industry,” Brusson said. He emphasized that in India and Brazil, people spend billions of dollars on bus tickets, which once more suggests that BlaBlaCar has a likelihood to grow.
This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
What’s happening with Google’s long-heralded migration to an alternate ad tech stack (i.e. its Privacy Sandbox proposal)? What, indeed. The entire multi-year endeavor to remodel the industrial web looks perilously near death after the most recent intervention by the UK’s antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
This is in addition to the U-turn Google has made around third-party tracking cookies. Initially, they were speculated to be phased out; as of July, it looks just like the cookies are here to remain.
The CMA has been investigating Google’s Privacy Sandbox plan since January 2021, following a grievance filed in November 2020 by a coalition of digital marketing firms — which is one reason the project has been so painfully slow. But the slowness is beginning to seem like a firm “no” from the UK regulator.
IN case update The CMA threw Google one other wrench in the works on Tuesday, writing that it had “competition concerns” in regards to the latest versions. The tech giant’s previous commitments, which might also have to be updated to reflect “the evolution of Google’s planned Privacy Sandbox browser changes,” it said.
This means — at best — further delays in a project that has already exceeded its original schedule by several years.
The CMA said it was discussing the changes with Google, and that Google would want to handle its competition concerns — but it surely has not yet specified exactly which parts of the revised proposal still fall short. One thing is obvious, nevertheless: Google’s proposed move to a user selection architecture is on hold while the regulator considers the implications.
“If the CMA is unable to agree changes to the commitments with Google that address the competition concerns, then the CMA will consider what further action may be necessary,” the regulator also wrote, again without specifying what options might then be considered (note: Google has already agreed not to finish its tracking cookies without the CMA’s consent), adding that it “will conduct a public consultation before making any decision to accept changes to the commitments and intends to do so in the fourth quarter of 2024.”
The regulator plans to supply an update on what it calls its “views on Privacy Sandbox tools and an assessment of the results of testing and trials” in the ultimate quarter of the yr. So that clanking sound you may hear is the sound of a badly damaged can being kicked down the road again.
Ad Targeting: Who Has a Choice?
The CMA’s latest intervention follows a revised approach announced by Google this summer, when the tech giant suggested it would eliminate third-party tracking cookies altogether.
The implication of Google’s offer was also that its proposed selection architecture for Chrome could allow users to opt out of tracking-based personalized ads entirely — i.e., by offering a free selection to say “no” to such tracking (and, presumably, receive contextual ads as an alternative). Which could be great news for people’s privacy.
However, digital marketing corporations which have decided to dam opt-out of tracking cookies in Chrome are likely not in favor of giving web users such a big influence over internet advertising.
The CMA’s assessment of Privacy Sandbox is clearly conducted from a pure competition perspective – so its role is to pay particular attention to such complaints.
The competition watchdog declined to reply questions on its approach. However, we understand the CMA is anxious that Google’s revised plan to present users with selection could significantly reduce the provision of third-party cookies for ad targeting – resulting in increased reliance on alternatives equivalent to Google’s Privacy Sandbox tools.
If there’s a priority that Google could use the Privacy Sandbox project to further cement its dominant position in the ad tech industry — including by giving web users more freedom to guard their privacy from advertisers — that’s a competitive concern.
On privacy, the CMA has previously said it’s working with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the regulator answerable for enforcing domestic data protection laws, to think about the relevant issues around privacy and user selection design. However, as now we have outlined previously, the ICO has a history of under-enforcing adtech regulations – despite recognising compliance issues.
The ICO’s recent actions in this area—pursuing certain kinds of non-compliant cookie consent pop-ups—have fueled the expansion of one other problematic type of evasion in the promoting industry: opt-in or pay mechanisms. This controversial approach, which is being challenged legally in the European Union, sees web users presented with a consent pop-up that blocks access to content until they accept tracking or pay a subscription fee to access the content. It is, in fact, the literal opposite of free selection.
And what has the ICO been doing about consent or payment? It consulted earlier this yr but has yet to take a public position on the legality of the controversial business model – allowing the privacy-hating mechanism to grow unchecked in the meantime.
All of which is to say that if the UK regulator is the very best hope for web users to fight for his or her privacy rights in the high-stakes battle for the long run of the industrial web – pitting Google against digital marketers and the CMA in their corner – then this doesn’t seem to be a good fight. It’s more like allowing competitors to dominate the hierarchy of interests.
Asked to answer the CMA’s latest intervention, Google spokeswoman Jo Ogunleye said the corporate was cooperating with regulators and believed its revised proposal was pro-competitive.
A press release from the corporate was also sent, saying: “We are working with the CMA on the Privacy Sandbox in line with the updated approach now we have recommend, which enables people to make informed decisions about how they browse the online. As we finalise this approach, we are going to proceed to seek the advice of with the CMA, the ICO and other regulators all over the world and stay up for continuing to work with the ecosystem to construct a personal, ad-supported web.”
We also asked for a response Lukasz Olejnikindependent consultant who has followed the Privacy Sandbox proposal from the outset. “Storing third-party cookies is detrimental to user well-being,” he warned, underlining a transparent change of direction by the CMA.
“I was extremely pleased with how professionally the CMA approached the migration to privacy-enhanced networks in a way that respected competition,” he also told TechCrunch. “However, over the past few months, I have seen a significant shift in enforcement priorities.”
Speculating on what may be driving the change, Olejnik noted that there had been a change of presidency in the UK – but said it was difficult to clarify why the regulator may need modified its priorities in this area.
“To date, the CMA has fully understood that third-party cookies are problematic for privacy, data protection and trust in the digital advertising sector,” he said, adding: “While I believe there would still be a business case for Privacy Sandbox, such a position could undermine the quality of privacy and trust in businesses for UK users.”
This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
Elon Musk: “The blocking feature will prevent an account from interacting, but it will not block them from seeing public posts.”
If you’ve got blocked certain users from seeing your posts on X, formerly often called Twitter, you would possibly not just like the social network’s latest change.
According to e this function shall be Change in order that a blocked user on X will find a way to see the post but won’t find a way to reply to it. Elon Musk, the owner of the platform, replied to the tweet after the user mentioned it on X.
The latest “feature” was revealed on September 23, when Nima Owji posted about it on the platform.
URGENT: X goes to remove the present block button, meaning that if an account is public, its posts shall be visible to blocked users too!
Currently, if you’ve got been blocked by a user, you’ll see a message that claims, “You have been blocked.” You cannot see anything related to their posts, nor are you able to see their replies, media posted to their account, their followers, or who they’re following.
Musk has reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with the role prior to now. Last 12 months, Musk said that he replied to a user on the platform who was unhappy about being blocked. He stated that “blocking public posts makes no sense. It should be phased out in favor of a stronger form of muting.”
He is like that unlike the blocking feature he introduced earlier endangered to prohibit people from using unless it’s direct messaging.
The “workaround” is to set your posts to private. This would allow you to approve latest followers to see your content. Otherwise, individuals who don’t follow you do not need to be blocked and won’t find a way to see your posts.
Tech Crunch reported that this happened done greater than 10 years ago. In 2013, Twitter allowed blocked users to view content, follow and reply to posts by individuals who blocked them. While the one who blocked the user didn’t know they may view their content, other users knew they may. After user backlash, Twitter reversed course and altered its protocol to reflect the present policy.
This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
After acquiring data management company Own earlier this month, Salesforce today announced plans to buy Zoomin, a knowledge platform for enterprises. Zoomin — which we’ve written about several times before — consolidates company documents, reminiscent of user guides and product tutorials, into a single portal.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Salesforce expects the deal to shut in its fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 (Jan. 31), subject to customary closing conditions.
Founded in 2019 by Gal Oron, Hannan Saltzman and Joe Gelb, Zooming applies AI and large data to assist corporations construct self-service search and documentation support experiences. The Israeli startup’s clients include tech brands like McAfee and Dell, in addition to fast-food chains including Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes.
Zoomin investors—including General Atlantic, Bessemer Ventures Partners, Viola Growth, and Salesforce’s own enterprise capital arm, Salesforce Ventures—have committed $73 million in capital to the corporate.
Rahul Auradkar, executive vice chairman of unified data at Salesforce, says the acquisition will see Zoomin extend Salesforce’s Data Cloud platform to expand use cases, reminiscent of leveraging the corporate’s knowledge base to automate customer support interactions.
“Proprietary unstructured data is a powerful fuel our customers can use to power AI agents and customer service,” said Auradkar, “and Zoomin’s proven expertise and technology will accelerate Data Cloud innovation and enable our customers to realize greater value.”
Salesforce’s acquisition of Zoomin comes after the tech giant pledged to speculate an extra $500 million in AI startups through Salesforce Ventures.
This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
