How Trio Founders of BlaBlaCar Built a $2 Billion Worth Company, Changing Travel Ecosystem

Early Days of Co-founders:

Frederic Mazzella:

It’s not a cup of tea to observe and understand the gap in the market, but there are some people who not only recognize it but also take it as an endless possibility. Meet Frederic Mazzella, the founder and president of BlaBlaCar, who discovered a gap in the market as well, took it as an opportunity rather than a problem.

Before founding the company, he worked as a scientific researcher at NIT, Japan and NASA, United States. He earned a master’s degree in physics from Ecole Normale Supérieure in France, a master’s in computer science from Stanford University, and an MBA from INSEAD. Beyond his academic achievements, he is also a skilled classical pianist.

In 1999, when Fred Mazzella was a student at Stanford, Silicon Valley was experiencing a startup boom, with new ventures emerging everywhere. Many entrepreneurs were leaving their studies to dive into the tech bubble or daring to start their own businesses. Fred was inspired by their determination to try, fail, learn, and succeed. It was during this time that he realized entrepreneurship could be a path for him.

As a tree requires more than just planting to produce fruit, building a successful startup takes more than just an idea. To build a reliable and trustworthy community, co-founders Nicolas Brusson and Francis Nappez aligned themselves with BlaBlaCar.

Nicolas Brusson:

Nicolas, the co-founder and CEO of BlaBlaCar, joined the company in 2011. Prior to this, he worked with various startups in Silicon Valley.

He holds multiple degrees, including a Master’s in Applied Physics from Paris XI University, a Master’s in Optics from Ecole Supérieure d’Optique, and an MBA from INSEAD. Nicolas is also an active angel investor.

Francis Nappez:

Francis is the co-founder and serves as a tech advisor to the CEO of BlaBlaCar. Prior to joining BlaBlaCar, he was responsible for leading substantial technical developments for significant European consumer internet companies, including Free and Meetic, creating impactful disruptions. He earned his degree in Technology and Communications Research from Joseph Fourier University.

Francis has been guiding the technical and product development of BlaBlaCar since 2006, playing a vital role in transforming the platform from just a few thousand members to millions today. He is skilled at bringing bold ideas to life and focusing on building robust systems that can scale with growth and stay competitive in the long run.

Trio co-founders are contributing their efforts to bring freedom, fairness, and fraternity to the world of travel.

What Inspired Them To Take It Global:

In life, everything happens for a reason, and this principle also applies on the founder of a billion-dollar firm. A specific incident led to a spark of inspiration for a new idea. One Christmas, Frederic faced a challenge getting home to Vendée, about 300 miles from Paris.

But he struggled as he had no car and all the trains were full, and he found himself in a situation where he couldn’t actually meet his family for Christmas. However, his younger sister went and picked him up in Paris, and she brought him back to Vendée.

During the journey, Frederic observed that most cars on the road were nearly empty, which sparked an idea: utilizing available seats in existing cars could lead to a new travel network.

This observation led to the creation of BlaBlaCar. Over the next decade, with the help of co-founders Francis and Nicolas, the trio transformed this simple concept into the world’s leading carpooling platform, connecting millions of people traveling in the same direction.

From Dream to Reality:

The trio founders combined their unique skills to foster a dynamic environment at BlaBlaCar, where passion and innovation flourish daily. In 2004, Fred, with his friend Damien, started developing the initial version of the platform from his living room. Finally, they took a leap of faith and, on September 16, 2006, launched a Paris-based startup, BlaBlaCar.

BlaBlaCar is a digital platform that connects drivers with passengers traveling to the same destination. It links both people and places, offering a network that integrates carpooling with long-distance buses, connecting major cities to rural areas, and reaching over 2.4 million locations globally in 2023. By enhancing vehicle usage, the platform helped save approximately 2 million tons of CO2 and facilitated 104 million trusted connections in 2023.

BlaBlaCar integrates carpooling with bus services from over 5,000 operators, providing a broad range of affordable and eco-friendly travel options within a single app. The platform's mobility services helped prevent 2 million tons of CO2 emissions. As the world’s top community-based travel app, BlaBlaCar connects 27 million active users annually across 21 countries.

What makes his story truly inspiring is that, instead of overlooking the problem, he pursued a solution and ultimately founded a billion-dollar company.