Free Now
| FREE NOW
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| legal form | Free Now Intelligent Apps GmbH |
| founding | 2009 |
| Seat | Hamburg |
| Website | www.free-now.com/ |
Free Now (formerly myTaxi ) is a mobility provider based in Hamburg . The predecessor Mytaxi was initially founded as a pure taxi app in 2009 and has been part of the new mobility joint venture between Daimler and BMW called Free Now since February 2019 . The Free Now app creates a direct connection between passengers and the drivers of taxis or the headquarters of the wireless rental car company. Free Now is now active in over 100 cities with more than 100,000 drivers across Europe.
The CEO of the Free Now Group is Marc Berg, the operational business is led by Eckart Diepenhorst, CEO Europe of Free Now. Germany boss is Alexander Mönch.
Product overview
Customers can install the Free Now app on their iOS or Android mobile phone and log in from the app, enter a valid phone number and a valid payment method (giro or credit card, Apple Pay , Google Wallet or PayPal ). Depending on their location, customers can use the app to order a taxi, an e-scooter or a rental car with a driver. To do this, the app uses the passenger's GPS data and shows available mobility solutions in the vicinity.
history
mytaxi was founded in 2009 by the German entrepreneurs Niclaus Mewes and Sven Külper. In the same year, Intelligent Apps GmbH, the company behind mytaxi, was launched.
By May 2011, mytaxi had been rolled out in six major cities across Germany. In August 2011 mytaxi took its first international steps in Vienna with its offer. The app is now available in over 100 cities across Europe.
In September 2014, Daimler acquired the majority stake in Intelligent Apps and thus entered the market for digital mobility solutions.
In 2016 mytaxi merged with Hailo , a British platform for taxi brokerage, and thus became the largest licensed ride hailing company in Europe.
Free Now is part of the brand family that emerged in 2019 from the joint venture between BMW and Daimler. The Free Now group also includes Kapten (available in France, Switzerland and Great Britain), Beat (available in Greece and Latin America), Clever (Romania) and Hive (e-scooters in six European countries).
The other areas within this brand family are Share Now (car2go and Drive Now ), Reach Now (multimodal), Park Now and Charge Now.
Availability
Free Now is now active in over 100 cities in nine European countries (Germany, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Great Britain). More than 14 million customers should use Free Now regularly. The company has branches in 26 European cities.
In Berlin in 2019 was the subcontractor Free Now Ride (FNR), which in the city in the areas of car sharing ( Share Now ), parking ( Park Now ), charging stations for electric vehicles ( Charge Now ), trip planning by mobility platform ( Reach Now ) and Radio rental car services (Free Now) is active. It does not have its own fleet of vehicles, but works together with car rental companies, radio rental companies and some taxi operators. A total of 1,800 vehicles were under contract at the end of January 2020. Around 2600 drivers are on the road for FNR. The price offer is below the usual taxi tariffs, averaged between 10 and 20 percent, depending on peak times, major events, routes, size of the vehicle and the like. a. Potential users can find out the exact fare when booking via the app. Cooperation with e-scooter operators is also planned in the future.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Fasse: BMW and Daimler jointly found a billion-dollar company. Handelsblatt, accessed on August 20, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c MyTaxi wants to expand the offer with a new name. Handelsblatt, accessed on August 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Marc Widmann: We are not indifferent to the laws. The time, accessed August 20, 2019 .
- ^ Christian Weis: Bonn-based investor was spot on with myTaxi. Retrieved August 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Ben Schwan: Free Now: Renamed MyTaxi now also evaluates customers. Heise, accessed on August 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Peter Neumann: From zero to 1800 . In: Berliner Zeitung . January 31, 2020, p. 11 (print edition).