FREENOW, a European app for taxi and multimodal transportation, has announced that it has reached the point of profitability. The company’s current strategy, which focuses on developing taxi services, has resulted in a 13% increase in revenue generated from taxi rides through the platform, compared to the same period last year. This global achievement was announced by the platform’s CEO, Thomas Zimmermann, during his presentation at the Bits & Pretzels event in Munich.
Operating in European countries such as Germany, UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Poland, Italy, Greece and Austria, FREENOW has reached the break-even point, thereby strengthening its position in the urban mobility sector. The platform focuses on providing taxi services while collaborating with numerous external multimodal transportation operators, offering its users services such as e-scooter rental, e-bike rental, car sharing, long-term car rental, and public transport.
Thomas Zimmermann, CEO of FREENOW, said, “We believe that taxis are an essential element of the mobility ecosystem in every city. Our commitment to collaborating with local taxi drivers and operators in Europe is the right approach for sustainable growth and shared success in the business. Achieving profitability proves the strength of our strategy that prioritizes the development of taxi services. Building on our current success, we are focusing on future development to continue generating revenue, reinvesting and modernizing the European taxi market.”
The objective of FREENOW is to rank first in the taxi sector in Europe. The company’s growth is driven by success in key taxi markets in Europe, through which the platform plans to achieve this long-term goal in the remaining 150 European cities where it operates. FREENOW constantly expands its offering by supporting local economies through close cooperation with local taxi operators and over 150 thousand drivers across Europe.
In Berlin, FREENOW saw more than a 50% increase in taxi demand compared to the same period last year, thanks to the introduction of pre-priced taxi service. In Germany, the platform currently collaborates with over 20 000 taxi drivers, with the number of active drivers having increased by more than 10% year-by-year.
In other European markets for FREENOW, such as Ireland, Spain, the UK and Greece, the platform ranks number one among taxi apps and continues to extend its reach to new locations, increasing supply and investing in new services for passengers and drivers. Recent initiatives include the Airport Prebook Promise in Ireland, and a program supporting London’s black cab drivers in transitioning to electric vehicles. Currently, 70% of rides in the UK’s capital are done by zero-emission vehicles. In Spain, FREENOW expanded its operations to include cities such as Granada and Valladolid. In Greece, by partnering with the tourism sector, the platform widened the availability of its services beyond Athens and Thessaloniki, launching in Crete.
In Poland, FREENOW maintains its strong position as one of the leading taxi ordering apps, standing out for its quality, safety and affordability. The last year of the platform’s operation was characterized by adapting to recent regulatory changes in the taxi market in Poland, which impose a strict verification requirement on drivers and the need to possess a Polish driving license. FREENOW has fully adapted to these regulations and conducts personal verification of drivers on a daily basis in all 25 locations that it operates in Poland.
FREENOW has been a part of the taxi market for over 15 years and its collaboration with cities, taxi drivers and fleet operators uniquely positions the platform as a leader in digital transformation in the sector. Using technology and innovation, FREENOW modernizes urban mobility, supporting the modern development of the taxi sector. The traditional offline taxi industry across Europe represents about 60% of all ride-hailing rides, an area which FREENOW sees as an essential potential to capitalize on next.
“Our short-term goal is to strengthen our position as the leading taxi ordering app in the main markets, while striving to achieve the same status in all other regions where we operate, along with further expansion in other European cities. We continue to modernize the taxi sector, working with traditional offline dispatchers and offering them our online solutions to digitize their operations. The offline taxi market is huge, and thanks to our experience, FREENOW is perfectly prepared to fully exploit this potential” – summarizes Thomas Zimmermann.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/freenow-osiaga-prog-rentownosci-39798
