BlaBlaCar has raised $100 million in a Series C capital round led by Index Ventures.
Existing investors - Accel Partners, ISAI and Lead Edge Capital - also participated in the round for the the Paris-based long distance-focused car ride sharing service.
The company says it will use the fund to expand into new markets ("explore every large market in the world") and will also look for acqui-hire opportunities
Previously, BlaBlaCar raised $10 million in early 2012 and has so far made three acquisitions.
The platform allows users planning long distance trips to search for fellow travellers on the same route, travel together and share the cost of the ride.
Around one million BlaBlaCar members share trips every month, the company claims, an increase of over 200% year-on-year.
For example, in Russia, over 250,000 verified members signed up in the first quarter of operation; in Germany, the company crossed over a million members in a year after its launch.
CEO Frédéric Mazzella says:
"Since founding the company, we have shaken up the long distance travel market in Europe and built an active and loyal community. This investment will help us accelerate to build a trusted people-powered transport network right across the globe."
As part of the part funding round, Dominique Vidal from Index Ventures partner, will join the board of BlaBlaCar.
CEO of ISAI and board member of BlaBlaCar, Jean-David Chamboredon, says:
"We saw the potential of the BlaBlaCar network at the time of our investment in early 2010, but, even so, we probably underestimated just how massive the adoption would be among travellers. It has been fantastic to see how mainstream long distance ride sharing is becoming in the company’s markets of operation."
Recently, the multi-modal search service, Rome2Rio, added carpooling options in Europe with inventories pulled from services including BlaBlaCar.
Founded in 2006 by Frédéric Mazzella (CEO), Francis Nappez (CTO), and Nicolas Brusson (COO), BlaBlaCar currently has over eight million members in 12 countries including France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and UK.
Index Ventures' other travel industry investments are HouseTrip, Onefinestay, SecretEscapes, Citymapper, Drivy, and Capitaine Train.