German luxury car brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz are selling their taxi app, FreeNow, to the US taxi platform Lyft for €175 million.
FreeNow currently operates in nine European countries and over 150 cities, although not in Belgium.
The joint venture between BMW and Mercedes mainly serves as a platform for taxi services, but users can also rent cars, electric bikes, and scooters, and participate in car-sharing. The company announced that it became profitable last autumn.
With this acquisition, Lyft will enter the European market for the first time. It currently operates only in the United States and Canada.
The deal is expected to be finalised in the second half of this year.
