Daimler Expands Ridesharing With Carpooling App Acquisition

In recent ridesharing news, German carmaker Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz and other brands, has recently announced its acquisition of Germany-based ridesharing company Flinc.

Though the financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, the carpooling and ridesharing platform will continue to operate independently after the acquisition is complete, according to TechCrunch news reports. It will also continue to be led by founders Klaus Dibbern, Michael Hubl and Benjamin Kirschner.

“Transport options are just as varied as the mobility demands of our customers,” said Jorg Lamparter, head of mobility services at Daimler. “Whether flexible carsharing, ridehailing or door-to-door ridesharing, with our mobility services, we are able to provide the ideal solution. With Flinc, we are taking on an extremely well-coordinated team that brings valuable experience in the field of short-distance ridesharing.”

Flinc raised an undisclosed amount of venture capital (VC) funding from investors like Deutche Bahn, General Motors Ventures and Ecomobility Ventures following its founding in 2010. To date, more than 500,000 customers have used Flinc’s ridesharing and carpooling offerings.

Startup Flinc has a focus on smart navigation, and Daimler’s Mobility Services division noted the acquisition deal was an element of its strategy to “transition from being an automobile manufacturer to a mobility service provider,” according to TechCrunch. The German carmaker is likely looking to join the ranks of General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen and Volvo in the race toward autonomous, self-driving cars and transportation and ridesharing startups.

“Daimler has not been a stranger to the bigger changes we are seeing in the transportation industry,” TechCrunch reported. “Recent investments from the company have included putting $60 million into quick-changing battery startup StoreDot, $250 million into Via, a shuttle-based ridesharing company, and investments into Careem, Blacklane, FlixBus and Turo.”

According to the news report, Daimler has also acquired German companies car2go and mytaxi, which included the acquisition of Hailo, Uber’s competitor in the ridesharing space.