Free Now (service)

FREENOW is a mobility service provider headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. FREENOW was formed in February 2019 from a joint venture between BMW and Daimler Mobility. Thomas Zimmermann is CEO of the FREENOW Group.[2]

FREENOW
IndustryMobility-as-a-Service
Predecessorsmytaxi, Hailo, Clever Taxi
Headquarters
Hamburg
,
Germany
Area served
Germany, UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, Austria and Greece
Key people
Thomas Zimmermann
(CEO)[1]
ProductsVehicle for hire, mobile commerce network
ServicesMobility as a service
OwnerBMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Group
Number of employees
1850+ (2022)
Websitefree-now.com

The FREENOW Group is the vehicle for hire vertical of this joint venture; other services within the vertical include Beat and formerly Clever, Hive and Kapten, which rebranded to FREENOW.[2] FREENOW is one of the largest vehicle for hire companies in Europe.[3] As Mobility-as-a-Service platform FREENOW aggregates numerous mobility brands and vehicle options to make them bookable within one app. Next to taxi and PHV, FREENOW offer car sharing and further micro-mobility options such as eScooters, eMopeds, and eBikes with its partners TIER, VOI, EMMY, Cooltra, Miles, SHARE NOW, DOTT, felyx and SIXT.

FREENOW is serving over 150 European cities including Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin, Paris, Milan, Rome and London. FREENOW customer care and support teams operate from Dublin, Hamburg, Madrid, and Warsaw among other European cities.

The UK General Manager is Mariusz Zabrocki, and the Country Manager in Ireland is Niall Carson.[4][5]

History
mytaxi logo

mytaxi was founded in 2009 by German entrepreneurs Niclaus Mewes and Sven Külper. Later that year, the pair founded the legal entity behind mytaxi, Intelligent Apps. In September 2014, Daimler acquired mytaxi's parent company, Intelligent Apps, entering the vehicle for hire market.[6]

MyTaxi in Berlin

In 2016, the German e-hailing app mytaxi merged with Hailo. Founded in London in 2011, Hailo was a British technology platform that matched taxi drivers and passengers through its mobile phone application. The merger between mytaxi and Hailo made mytaxi the largest licensed taxi e-hailing operator.[7]

Following regulatory approval in February 2019, Daimler and BMW announced the €1bn mobility joint-venture; the parent company is known as YOUR NOW which also operates SHARE NOW, ReachNow, Park Now and CHARGE NOW.[8] On 1 July 2019, myTaxi was rebranded to FREENOW and has transformed from a taxi app into a fully integrated multi-mobility platform.

In January 2021, FREENOW announced a €6 million investment to fund its 14,000 drivers in Ireland with home charging kits to encourage them to switch to electric vehicles.[9] Overall, FREENOW wants to allocate more than EUR 100 million of resources in the coming five years to push the electrification of its rides across Europe.[10]

References
  1. "About the Joint Venture | Our Story". your-now.com. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  2. "Daimler and BMW invest $1.1 billion in urban mobility services". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  3. Gorey, Colm (2019-02-22). "Mytaxi to change name to FREENOW following €1bn BMW and Daimler deal". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  4. Richardson, Perry (3 April 2021). "TaxiPoint Taxi News | Single Post". TaxiPoint Taxi News | UK | Black cabs. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  5. Taylor, Charly (December 24, 2020). "Free Now looks to go beyond taxis with new services". Irish Examiner.
  6. Weis, Christian. "Bonner Investor lag mit myTaxi goldrichtig". www.business-on.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  7. "Confirmed: Hailo sells 60% of company to Daimler as it merges with MyTaxi". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  8. "BMW and Daimler to invest €1bn in mobility joint-venture". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  9. Taylor, Charlie. "FREENOW to invest €6m to encourage taxi drivers to go electric". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  10. "FREENOW Press release" (PDF).
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