Latest / EU-Startups Podcast / The Christmas Trip that Built BlaBlaCar

Transcript

The Christmas Trip that Built BlaBlaCar · EU-Startups Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 0: You are now listening to the EU Startups podcast.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to this episode of The EU Startup Podcast, as always I'm your host, Dane Senangarcia, the newsletter here at EU startups!
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Have you ever traveled in Europe?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I am sure that answer is a yes for all of you but have any need to travel on really small budget?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: That's where BlaBlaCar comes in... I'm sure many of you know blaBlaBla Car has wonderful offering for cheap ride sharing across Europe and globally.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: It was founded in two thousand six by Frederick Matzella, he and I sat down and chatted over the impact that blogger car has had on the ride-sharing ecosystem not just in Europe but globally.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: we chatted about where he sees the impact of this moving forward how he sees U.S evolving with its access to rideshare through his involvement with France Digital.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: So I hope you're looking forward to that, but before quick message from our sponsor Fanta.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: That's where Vanta comes in.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Vanta is the all-in one compliance solution, helping startups like yours get audit ready and build a strong security foundation quickly and painlessly!
• 1:46
  Speaker 0: How?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Vanta automates the manual security tasks that slow you down – Helping You Streamline Your Audit And The platform connects with trusted VCSOs to Build your program, auditors To Get Through Audits Quickly A Marketplace for Essentials Like Pen Testing.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: So whether you're closing your first deal or gearing up for growth, Vanta makes compliance easy.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Join over eight thousand companies including many Y Combinator and TechStars startups who trust Vanta simplify compliance.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: And
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: welcome to the Ustarps podcast.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: It's a pleasure to have you here and thank you for letting me call you Fred, which is definitely easier from my American tongue
• 2:40
  Speaker 0: Hello very nice to meet today.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Yes yes I'm very excited through this conversation.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: i myself am an avid blahblah car user.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: I needed to get around.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: So, um...I'm a fan of the service and I am particularly excited to have this chat with you!
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: And you are no stranger to us at EU Startups.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: You've had involvement in our Summit in the past so we're always keeping an eye on blah-blah cars.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: It's a pleasure having you.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Before starting questions it is easy.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: just allow guests present themselves.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: give them some rundown about who they are.
• 3:21
  Speaker 0: Okay, so my name is Fred.
• 3:23
  Speaker 0: as you said I'm an entrepreneur.
• 3:26
  Speaker 0: I build companies which are useful for us all.
• 3:32
  Speaker 0: You've named Blabla Car of course Which was a big success built few years ago?
• 3:37
  Speaker 0: I am also building another project today called the Dift For Donation As A Gift where we send money to NGOs organizations with help from companies.
• 3:50
  Speaker 0: And as for BlaBlaCar, I guess we'll be focusing quite a lot on questions you have about this wonderful project.
• 3:57
  Speaker 0: So... ...I will be brief now and waiting your question.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Great!
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, well I didn't know about the Stift and you please do talk about it.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: The idea here is to kind of get an insight into the entrepreneur in his journey and his challenges.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: so always feel free even though as your said my questions are mostly aimed at blah-blah car but if he can find any point.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: So with that in mind, I think the best place to start these conversations is always at the beginning.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: And uh...I've read over and over again this story of yours about how BlaBlaCar began About this trip with your sister.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: so you know..and feel free to tell us a story because i do think it's kind of an interesting one.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: It kinda highlights really where the idea comes from.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: But I'm kinda curious.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: when you begin BlaBLaCar I mean, what was the initial focus of it?
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Was is about making travel easier.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Was not wasting enough resources saving money?
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: even sustainability questions are obviously in a mix here.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: What's your goal to begin with?
• 5:10
  Speaker 0: Well, I think the first thing was personal need.
• 5:13
  Speaker 0: I mean just wanted to get home for Christmas and hit the wall of everything is full.
• 5:18
  Speaker 0: like all the trains were full i could not get any available seats.
• 5:23
  Speaker 0: And then when I finally took a car with my little sister who had her corn she brought me home on The highway.
• 5:32
  Speaker 0: so train going faster than us said to my little sister, well this train is full.
• 5:39
  Speaker 0: There's no seat available in it.
• 5:41
  Speaker 0: I know because of looking for seats.
• 5:46
  Speaker 0: and then at the same time i saw all empty cars like dozens hundreds thousands of empty cars with sometimes only a driver on board.
• 5:55
  Speaker 0: so there were a lot possibilities and available seats but they weren't in trains anymore.
• 6:06
  Speaker 0: And so we need to make sure that we are able to search for available seats and cars.
• 6:12
  Speaker 0: So what was the real starting point, I think is to see the opportunity... ...to see the absurdity of waste like.
• 6:20
  Speaker 0: it wasn't a grand theory at first but more physics-obviousness.
• 6:26
  Speaker 0: It's unused capacity everywhere and energy being lost.
• 6:31
  Speaker 0: The main thing I saw, the opportunity of matching people going in the same way and sharing costs just because seats were available.
• 6:39
  Speaker 0: And they sold them physically.
• 6:41
  Speaker 0: but then after... Of course it translates into something you can scale Because that does not happen only in France But happens everywhere.
• 6:51
  Speaker 0: So yeah It's part called the entrepreneurial journey.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: There has to be a social, I mean at least afterwards.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: A social angle developed in it too because if i can think of one of my most like important experiences with blah-blah car It's a trip I took from San Manca to Valencia and Spain which If you know anything about where those two cities are located?
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Its on opposite ends the country and I magically found a person who was making that exact same trajectory.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: And you know, it was about eight hours of car ride... ...and I realized he hadn't done this for the gas money!
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: He'd just have somebody to talk with because he thought, ''I'm gonna be so bored sitting in a vehicle for eight
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: hours.''.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah,
• 7:43
  Speaker 0: it's a big motivation for everyone as a driver to actually take passengers in their car just not be alone and spend good time discovering new people.
• 7:54
  Speaker 0: Obviously its very social.
• 7:57
  Speaker 0: so you mentioned that.
• 7:58
  Speaker 0: I think BlaBlaCar has... You can discover because you think is more affordable way of travel It cheaper than most if not all the other options.
• 8:11
  Speaker 0: But what strikes is that you actually get to meet new people.
• 8:16
  Speaker 0: That's why it's called BlaBlaCar, I don't know if she knows why we're called BlaFlaCar Do you?
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: No no!
• 8:22
  Speaker 0: It's because when your register on the service.
• 8:24
  Speaker 0: You choose how much you talk in a car... You chose if you are blahblahblah or blablabla.
• 8:29
  Speaker 0: It takes so long for me chatting during the ride.
• 8:36
  Speaker 0: Well, I'm registered as blah-blah on the service but I've been told they should register us.
• 8:41
  Speaker 0: Blah-blAH.
• 8:42
  Speaker 0: anyway How
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: many how many trips have you taken yourself?
• 8:48
  Speaker 0: I know hundreds But yeah it's a lot.
• 8:52
  Speaker 0: and especially in the beginning to like really proof test The service process of concept improve the features that we were We needed.
• 9:02
  Speaker 0: but then as you mentioned there are two sides.
• 9:05
  Speaker 0: after you realize, okay it's a cheap option to travel.
• 9:09
  Speaker 0: It saves a lot of money for drivers and is cheaper for passengers then you enter into this wonderful add-ons on the service that you meet people so that social angle we discover people And its also a little bit more environmentally friendly because Of course You divide CO² emissions per number of passengers in the car.
• 9:35
  Speaker 0: So we've made a calculation that BlaBlaCar alone saves more than two point five million tons of CO₂ per year when we compare a world without BlaBLaCar and a world with BlaBLACar.
• 9:48
  Speaker 0: so it's really significant, Two point five millions tons of co₂per year is twice the amount of these CO₀ emissions from big cities like Paris for road traffic.
• 10:03
  Speaker 0: So every year we offset two times what a city like the City of Paris creates in terms of CO² emissions on road traffic.
• 10:14
  Speaker 0: It's quite significant and it is thanks to the big network that today, there are hundred million people who use BlaBlaCar on the planet from Brazil to India which are our two biggest countries.
• 10:29
  Speaker 0: There are three advantages in this whole thing.
• 10:32
  Speaker 0: Not only it's a cheaper option, but also social and environmental so that has all the benefits you could ever think of which I think made me part of success because there is no reason to not use them.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I've come across these data as your point too and they're very interesting.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: And then we have topic where you spread beyond just carpooling.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: There's buses, there are train offerings now.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: And I have to wonder is the environmental impact also being transferred when you're involving busses and train offerings or that something really stays within carpooling because of its shared nature?
• 11:21
  Speaker 0: common transportation, so like buses or trains.
• 11:25
  Speaker 0: It's already embedded in the model that it is better for the environment and energy savings to actually have a lot of people traveling together on this same vehicle theme, the main topic that command transport has solved on them.
• 11:49
  Speaker 0: The main raison d'être if you wish for this to have developed because it's a way of people who share at cost off energy which is needed to move around and so by saving costs on energy also save environmental impacts.
• 12:07
  Speaker 0: but then goal is make sure your field rate correct Because if you have big vehicles traveling empty, then that's a total waste and we can see that.
• 12:20
  Speaker 0: We can project it but not what should be done.
• 12:23
  Speaker 0: so our goal when we enter into any kind of ground transport like this whether its buses or trains is to make sure we improve the fill-up rate of all those vehicles and make sure that they never travel empty, always empty seats.
• 12:40
  Speaker 0: We do our best to bring as many people in this shared capacity... ...that are made available for the network of people who travel with us.
• 12:51
  Speaker 0: So it's a same logic that will apply to these thermal transport solutions As we applied couple
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: And there any...?
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Because so you've covered carpooling, buses trains.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the obvious last mode transport is airplanes.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Is there any kind of...is that a different ballpark altogether?
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Or are there any plans moving forward to address it
• 13:14
  Speaker 0: now?
• 13:14
  Speaker 0: I think It's really a different play.
• 13:17
  Speaker 0: So never say Never.
• 13:18
  Speaker 0: but for Now its not something we focus on.
• 13:21
  Speaker 0: For Now what We Think.
• 13:23
  Speaker 0: If You Want To Fly Then Where To Find Your your flights.
• 13:28
  Speaker 0: and then there are a lot of flight comparators around here.
• 13:31
  Speaker 0: A lot of OTAs in that space who do the real job needed for this activity.
• 13:38
  Speaker 0: but if you think about ground transport, you should think about blah-blah car.
• 13:42
  Speaker 0: You'll find carpool buses and trains so anything can bring to underground is discoverable on blah-Blah car But we don't enter into the flight space for now.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Carpooling, it feels so natural in Europe.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: And hitchhiking even feel so natural here and me having been raised on the states and spent a lot of time there you know Hitchhiking is less and less common and ridesharing carpooling as even less so It feels.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: do you think that ride sharing has a true global appeal?
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Or does it just kind of work in some settings?
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: If we're talking about the
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: U.S.,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: like everybody has a car, everyone's forced to have a car depending on where you live and how cities are structured.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: so do feel there is true global application for what blah-blah cars offers.
• 14:35
  Speaker 0: Yeah well I think its globally appealing concept because MTCs available It's universal everywhere but the adoption curve really local a seed, if you wish that grows only in the soil which means like the habits trust on the alternative is right and The real driver isn't really car ownership.
• 14:57
  Speaker 0: It's more pain.
• 14:59
  Speaker 0: By pain I mean high prices long distances limited public transport congestion parking console And when pain is strong then people try new behaviors faster.
• 15:13
  Speaker 0: Then you have the culture Which matters a lot through trust and social norms, I mean in some places sharing with strangers is natural.
• 15:21
  Speaker 0: In others you need stronger reactions like profiles ratings verifications before it feels safe.
• 15:28
  Speaker 0: so It's a combination of all this.
• 15:31
  Speaker 0: And the economics are matter too because where buses and trains are cheap and great then ride-sharing must win on flexibility for community Alternatives are poor or expensive, rain-sharing wins on price and availability.
• 15:50
  Speaker 0: so you have different angles to look at it.
• 15:53
  Speaker 0: So well... To me I would say carpooling can work almost everywhere.
• 16:00
  Speaker 0: You just need roads and smartphones And then you have an app for carpool with BlaBlaCar.
• 16:09
  Speaker 0: But its not exactly the same recipe.
• 16:11
  Speaker 0: anywhere You need to localize the trust system and the value proposition.
• 16:15
  Speaker 0: And so you were talking about
• 16:16
  Speaker 0: U.S.,
• 16:18
  Speaker 0: one of the reasons we think today that US is not adopting coupling, there's no solution for coupling in the U. S.. We're not in the United States at all.
• 16:27
  Speaker 0: then there are no actors which does what they do... It also because price of gas and convenience moving around.
• 16:38
  Speaker 0: Well, the price of gas and everything around cars is a lot cheaper than it is in most countries where we operate especially when compared to the GDP per inhabitant.
• 16:53
  Speaker 0: The pain that drivers feel if they go at the pump or have trouble with their car are lower which isn't an incentive for drivers to propose seats for sharing.
• 17:07
  Speaker 0: So we believe that's a real driver when it comes to having drivers proposing their seats, two passengers.
• 17:18
  Speaker 0: That if they don't pay much and feel the pain of paying a lot with their cars then I don't feel any need for sharing the cost as well.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I imagine though maybe changing... And i'm not getting political here but current economic and political happenings, the price of gas is shooting up.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: And I imagine that more people are considering it even in
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: U.S.,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: to kind see these kinds things adopted?
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Is there any plans or do you just... No, that's
• 17:53
  Speaker 0: not true in the US right now.
• 17:56
  Speaker 0: And you know, the events are still very recent and they don't create like a massive trend which would spread over several years at least for now because we're talking about real equilibrium I mean economic equilibriums here.
• 18:13
  Speaker 0: We don't know what will happen within eight months of years So we'll see it from now.
• 18:18
  Speaker 0: It is really early to say anything whether or not this could, like the fact that price of gas is going up.
• 18:25
  Speaker 0: It could trigger a new interest for carpooling in the
• 18:29
  Speaker 0: U.S.,
• 18:29
  Speaker 0: I know.
• 18:29
  Speaker 0: Okay
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: well and speaking about the US and Europe there's something i want to touch on.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: just go backwards here if you don't mind.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Is that your beginning?
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I had a look over, you know Your CV and your experience.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: And uh You know i saw the or scientific researcher at nasa.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: i had That in my notes which that was interesting and you've also spent time In japan.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: so i want to hear A little bit about how those kind of early experiences helped you.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Uh approach How help helped how you approach building a startup in europe and even be an entrepreneur.
• 19:05
  Speaker 0: well i think um The more Trials and more experience you have the better it is.
• 19:12
  Speaker 0: So I could, uh...I hope Get to best of all the places i've been too.
• 19:16
  Speaker 0: so whether its in the US or Japan?
• 19:18
  Speaker 0: I think The us Possibly a spirit gave me um The permission to try.
• 19:26
  Speaker 0: It felt normal to prototype fast talk to users early interact without shame And really create your product in a way that you're not, uh... You don't feel the failure because you know that failure is part of the path to success.
• 19:47
  Speaker 0: So I think that really helps and also it has helped me thinking things have to go global if they want them to have some impact.
• 19:57
  Speaker 0: so like If doesn't scale then it doesn't matter Really?
• 20:04
  Speaker 0: Then Japan, I think when they did some research there it talked me more about also the rigor and their reliability.
• 20:15
  Speaker 0: And respect for process which is useful sometimes When you want to build something very powerful stable So... I think both of those experience helped a lot.
• 20:30
  Speaker 0: The French approach as well really really help, because we like to look at problems from all angles in France.
• 20:40
  Speaker 0: And so it's really helped me finding the right solution for how to create this kind of product or service which seemed very ambitious and crazy when I launched it.
• 20:56
  Speaker 0: It helped me like seeing all the facets of how to make it work and make it acceptable for everybody.
• 21:04
  Speaker 0: So yeah, I think...I'm just a mix up with this And i am happy we were able to develop that from France in Europe.
• 21:13
  Speaker 0: Actually he was right choice because as you just discussed We see that This product does not exist still today.
• 21:22
  Speaker 0: so there may be some reasons.
• 21:24
  Speaker 0: Maybe exists on there in the future, but for now Europe was a very best place to start this kind of project.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Well you know BlabbaCar has been on the game since... is it six or eight?
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: I've seen conflicting numbers here.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: when was BlabaCar founded?
• 21:45
  Speaker 0: well i started coding in two thousand four.
• 21:49
  Speaker 0: i incorporated the company.
• 21:53
  Speaker 0: But then that's the reason why there are some confusion on the dates, because I started coding.
• 21:58
  Speaker 0: Because you know...I had done a lot of coding when i was in especially in the US In California at Stanford When they studied computer science And so..i started coding before incorporating The company.
• 22:12
  Speaker 0: and thats where their civil data is around here.
• 22:15
  Speaker 0: but the incorporation needs Of the company is two
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: thousand six.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: So, you've seen kind of how Europe's involved in the innovation startup sector.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: You have been right there at the forefront whether it is difficulties and regulation funding streams all that I am curious to hear about through your experiences abroad wether its US or Japan measuring up right now in the overall innovative worldwide approach?
• 22:52
  Speaker 0: Well, I think it's evolved a lot over the past decades of course because we've gone from some kind of fear going for like developing innovation especially into tech space.
• 23:16
  Speaker 0: to willingness, really try and that now we even see in the population.
• 23:24
  Speaker 0: We know there's statistics but a lot of people want to create their own company now.
• 23:29
  Speaker 0: I think it is good thing because its global spirit for people willing build future It always be good society have as many people who are looking at the future with ambition.
• 23:45
  Speaker 0: So this spirit has changed a lot.
• 23:50
  Speaker 0: We have structured some good businesses, we now in Europe there are few hundred unicorns and so it's kind of scaling up.
• 24:01
  Speaker 0: but what were lacking is the big fans to capital because the capital is still coming from big places like the US for example.
• 24:17
  Speaker 0: So, the seed exists but the growth runs and let's go through... Let's go big globally.
• 24:25
  Speaker 0: reflexes are still more natural in the U.S than they are in Europe And there are more funds to sustain this kind of strategy In the
• 24:34
  Speaker 0: u.s.,
• 24:34
  Speaker 0: and you have it in Europe.
• 24:36
  Speaker 0: Then other things.
• 24:37
  Speaker 0: so where we were we're still lag behind is also the fact that we don't have a single market until now in Europe.
• 24:46
  Speaker 0: We always say, Europe has big markets but there are twenty-seven markets still not really one market.
• 24:55
  Speaker 0: so you know... That's holding us behind because what I said sometimes starting with a company like running hundred meter race But starting a company in Europe is like running a hundred and ten meters hurler race.
• 25:16
  Speaker 0: With all the hurdles being the twenty-seven markets you have to enter, which are different in NCO.
• 25:26
  Speaker 0: The languages are different of course but then the payment systems, lingual frameworks on many things... So that's holding us a bit.
• 25:34
  Speaker 0: I think AI can help especially with languages And then uniforming, so the payments will help.
• 25:40
  Speaker 0: But on legal frameworks we have to work... ...to make sure that companies don't have to recreate a new company every time they expand Because otherwise when you expand You feel like you're repeating the same start ten times instead of just compounding.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: So I imagine here your referring to the Ewing twenty-eighth regime proposal.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Yes and you support it right?
• 26:07
  Speaker 0: Yes, of course.
• 26:07
  Speaker 0: Of course I'm supportive I hope and we don't have all the details off what will be in the EU Inc package for now?
• 26:15
  Speaker 0: I've seen some good things but What I really really hope is that it would be attractive For entrepreneurs and for companies to move through that regime.
• 26:26
  Speaker 0: I Hope he wouldn't hear a regime that is attractive or not just something That puts everything in one place which has already.
• 26:37
  Speaker 0: It's already good if it puts all the administrative burden in one place instead of spreading into many, many countries.
• 26:46
  Speaker 0: But also to be attractive so that even existing companies think about moving towards that region because they would lower their costs not only their cost and money operating on several markets but also their cost in time and efficiency.
• 27:10
  Speaker 0: We'll be looking very carefully at what's inside the EU package when it is really, really packed?
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Well I would hope that they will confer with success stories just like yourselves or other founders we've had on our podcast.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: than all of you.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: So I would hope that eventually, You kind get to hear about it before All Of Us and be able give some feedback.
• 27:42
  Speaker 0: Yeah there are discussions but still on the details.
• 27:46
  Speaker 0: we don't have final detail.
• 27:47
  Speaker 0: so everything will come out in a few weeks or months.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Well we had to use tarp.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: sir We're very attentive.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: It's it's everyone's interested in the topic.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Everyone wants no more at our summit?
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have a whole panel on it.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: So uh...it kind of what's moving people right now and that's good.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: You know it's good.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: That were all so interested And we are getting into.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I also want To talk On your work..and i can see it on Your laptop there.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: France Digital, which is... Well speaking of the summit your media partners with us for this year's edition.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: So we're excited about that.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: so I want to talk a little bit about what the work The French Digital does especially you know because were talking here about European ability and everything i know there was heavy element of tech sovereignty That the France digital is focused on?
• 28:44
  Speaker 0: Well, France Digital is an association.
• 28:48
  Speaker 0: It's actually the biggest startup association in Europe.
• 28:52
  Speaker 0: but it's a association which really is here to help ecosystem as whole and startups individually reach scale up on one of these unique home stage by not only helping with methods entrepreneurs learn faster how to stay in their businesses and on the teams as well.
• 29:17
  Speaker 0: So we put that team's in relation, but will also help them by getting them into contact with VCs or investors who can really help business grow.
• 29:30
  Speaker 0: And then The other thing We do a lot is synthesizing what we know is right and good for the ecosystem as a whole to create the next jobs, also the next services in Europe.
• 29:46
  Speaker 0: And then we summarize all this into actually more things that can be activated by the regulator or administrative people who are either just in France And we bring them the ideas, good ideas from ecosystem that they should help implement with the level of regulation.
• 30:18
  Speaker 0: It's also part... it has been seen as a lobby but it is an education lobby I would say not for maintaining interest because you know many of the startups we represent are in their losing money phase, usually because they raise and still lose money.
• 30:40
  Speaker 0: They're investing on the future then also on jobs for the future.
• 30:48
  Speaker 0: but what to do is educate so that we don't have to protect vested interests or future interest To make sure Europe counts as a geography on the world map for technology.
• 31:04
  Speaker 0: Because we, I mean we distract some of these aspects.
• 31:07
  Speaker 0: but we are lagging behind on several issues and so if you don't collect all the intelligence that can then create good conditions to our startups or scale-ups then it's gonna be harder and harder for Europe to compete internationally.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: If there is one thing that I really loved about these conversations, which i've had with the likes of yourself, you know successful European entrepreneurs... Is That You All Seem To Look Backwards And Wanted To Bring Up And To Kind Of Better The Conditions Which I Think Is So Great And Speaks To Kindof A Continental Unity That We All Share On That Sense It Not Just For French, it's not just for Spanish.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: It's not where they come from but there is a real effort to push everybody up.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: and I want ask do you think France Digital Is making good strides in that sense?
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: In terms of its impact on the ecosystem?
• 32:13
  Speaker 0: Yes, yes frankly we see that because we receive also the thank-yous.
• 32:18
  Speaker 0: as startups We work with them sometimes them in making sure the regulator understands their issue.
• 32:28
  Speaker 0: Sometimes, you know what?
• 32:29
  Speaker 0: When you create a new project or startup You often are in space which has not been well scoped and may look like you're infringing some laws when your actually not just extending The field, the playfield.
• 32:54
  Speaker 0: You're extending where... Where did future is going?
• 32:58
  Speaker 0: And so often entrepreneurs and small startups don't have the possibility to reach out or communicate efficiently with people who are creating the laws.
• 33:13
  Speaker 0: We really here help formalize this communication make sure that they heard because what we see is like, ninety-nine percent of the time.
• 33:23
  Speaker 0: Of course all the new projects want to be good and better for their next phase in humanity.
• 33:33
  Speaker 0: so... We all wanted a little bit better world but sometimes it's not well interpreted Because its'n't well understood.
• 33:42
  Speaker 0: So we had to make sure that The goal of those startups Is listen and that we arrange things so they are able to develop their new projects, a new technology as well.
• 34:00
  Speaker 0: Also on your other point I think all fathers in Europe also like the scale of Europe.
• 34:12
  Speaker 0: We're lucky there is space which can be big can be unified, and in some ways standardize at least for the economic part.
• 34:25
  Speaker 0: I'm not saying we should standardize culture because culture is really something which makes us a lot stronger... The difference between cultures should of course maintain its real richness that we all benefit from.
• 34:42
  Speaker 0: But on all the aspects like economics, business and practical issues we should make sure if we have a common playing field it will allow our companies where they start from whether in Poland or Spain.
• 35:00
  Speaker 0: In France or Italy however to really expand globally in Europe And be much stronger capacities for you to have new revenues and kind of a sovereignty as well, which is a topic that's been rising lately because the international events.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Okay!
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Well...to wrap up here I'll let you go…I wanted just one final question going back to Blava Car here cause it was the crown jewel at least in this conversation Looking at blah, blah car and it's been around.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: You know you start working in two thousand four.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: we're now twenty-twenty six.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: It's uh its hit a lot of major milestones was curious on where you kind of see going forward.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: And with that question I just wanted to give you a little bit of context because i had A quick look At our coverage this year into companies That are in adjacent areas as blah, blah car.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: You know there's not such a direct competitor to it but in adjacent area and we saw that in twenty-twenty six is around seventy seven million euros in funding they have kind of gone into these kinds of adjacent areas right?
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: So with that in mind how do you see blah blah car In the landscape which operates on?
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: where will go five ten years from now?
• 36:24
  Speaker 0: Okay.
• 36:25
  Speaker 0: Before answering, can you tell me what are the adjacent activities that you've been looking at?
• 36:31
  Speaker 0: Do have any...
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, mobility and travel is kind of these booking travel agencies and companies.
• 36:42
  Speaker 0: Well, a lot of things have been evolving in mobility.
• 36:46
  Speaker 0: Of course our relationship with the mobility has evolved from being owners of this solution that brings us around like whether it be your car or even bicycle to really booking directly on your smartphone and so not being an order but sharing usage.
• 37:09
  Speaker 0: This has changed in ten years drastically.
• 37:11
  Speaker 0: I mean, the young generation just don't really think about owning their own vehicle that they want to have it on their phone which means what they compare when talking about mobility is the comfort and speed and ergonomics of the app used for moving around.
• 37:36
  Speaker 0: It's not even anymore the comfort or exactly... ...the mean of vehicle itself, so it is moved.
• 37:50
  Speaker 0: And in that space, of course Blamakar becomes a lot more easy to use year after year.
• 37:59
  Speaker 0: So we improve the ergonomics and make them possible possibly until the last minute and also to have um, The possibility to find drivers on your way.
• 38:11
  Speaker 0: Uh so directly they can stop and start by take you And then drop two of somewhere else On their ride without having to do the full ride with them.
• 38:20
  Speaker 0: Of course uh and Also the other part we want to simplify the lives of all the travelers around.
• 38:29
  Speaker 0: So that's why acing everything in one single app so that they don't need to be using several services.
• 38:35
  Speaker 0: So we place carpooling, we place buses and now the trains... In this same app you can find everything here like starting and ending points prices of course comfort and means of transport.
• 38:55
  Speaker 0: You really compare all your travel options.
• 38:59
  Speaker 0: So which means we simplify the journey of people looking for traveling.
• 39:08
  Speaker 0: This vision, we deploy it in several countries and all other countries where are when can.
• 39:15
  Speaker 0: so we're combining the carpool with buses and restraints if possible And this is really trajectory that were taking to make life's travel easier.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Great Well, thank you Fred for this great blah-blah.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: It's been a pleasure to have you on the podcast and be able chat about these things And I hope see again soon!
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Yes it has been a plesure.
• 39:48
  Speaker 0: Thank You David!
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Bye bye.