Blacklane allows thousands of people to get home safe and sound every day. The company connects all these passengers to an insured fleet of professional drivers. Blacklane offers phenomenally professional driver service in over 50 countries and does it at affordable prices. As soon as you land at your airport, you can have your driver ready to go. This means no more delays, reaching meetings late and no more inconvenience. So how did the revolutionary idea come to be, and what’s the secret behind its success? Here’s a look at everything you need to know about Blacklane and the service they provide.
Making Their Presence Felt
Blacklane CEO Jens Wohltorf co-founded this innovative company with Frank Steuer. The two-man team which started their business from a one-room office in Berlin now employs more than 200 people. Their small company grew into an enterprise with a solid presence in over 185 cities. They have tie-ups with more than 300 airports, much more than what Uber or Lyft has! So what’s the idea behind this wonderful company?
Story Behind the Idea
The co-founder Jens Wohltorf is an ex-Boston Consulting Group employee. Over at BCG, he made his way up the ranks and became the manager of their Berlin office, before calling it quits. In 2011, shortly after having received a promotion, Wohltorf stepped down to build his dream company. He got together with his old friend from University, Frank and then set the wheels in motion for Blacklane.
The duo had been planning and conceptualizing since 2009, analyzing the field and looking for opportunities. The duo always knew they wanted to work together, ever since their college days, and finally got their wish. When they saw that taxi apps were showing up on the Playstore, they took their chance. Also, traveling for BCG work had opened Wohltorf’s eyes to the need for professional car services.
Within the company, Wohltorf became the business guy while Frank handled the technical side of things. However, Wohltorf is industrial engineering with a Ph.D. in telecommunications. The first customer for the pair’s company was Wohltorf ‘s own brother and the business took off. The pair relied on online marketing to canvas customers landing in Berlin.
Growth and Finance
In the beginning, the duo did most of the work manually and even took 12-hour shifts to handle driver and passenger queries. The first employees were added in early 2012 and by the end of the year, the company had expanded to 15 cities in Germany. Soon enough, the pair internationalized the business, by adding both the British pound and US dollar within payment methods. The website followed suit, by turning multi-lingual and offering English, German and French. By going international so early on in their business, the company was able to scale effectively later on.
In 2013, the duo took on a challenge in the form of “Mission 100” which required them to add 100 new cities within 100 business days. This initiative helped them in reducing their launch time by over 75%. Once the duo started seeing returns, they began to look for investors.
Blacklane raised over 22 million euros via six funding rounds with Daimler being the main investor. This inflow of capital led to large-scale expansion and development, and soon enough, the company was operational in over 50 countries. Blacklane decided to have just one office in Berlin to help with centralizing power.
Blacklane Vs Uber
All the drivers employed by Blacklane are licensed and insured, and just like Uber, the company owns no cars. The cars are not theirs, and neither are the drivers. Instead, the company acts as a bridge between the customers and the drivers, by partnering with local chauffeur services. This way, the team has been able to build a fleet of esteemed drivers in every city they operate. This ensures that there are no conflicts, regulatory issues or strikes.
The biggest difference between Blacklane and Uber is that their pricing is fixed and all-inclusive. Hence, customers know exactly how much to expect and there are no hidden fees or surges in pricing. Also, unlike Uber, Blacklane works as a member of the travel value chain. Furthermore, they provide multi-lingual support to customers around the clock and also provide a booking guarantee.
Further Growth and Future Plans of Blacklane
Recently, 64 new cities in the Asia-Pacific brought them to over 250 cities worldwide, improving their market presence significantly. The company is looking to expand further by partnering with flight reservation pioneers Amadeus. Blacklane will then become a part of the flight booking industry, and also plan on providing rooms to customers. Their transparent website and ease of doing business have played a big role in helping the company scale such heights.
Being extremely customer-friendly by allowing even one-hour cancellations makes them a service people love to use. The company plans on integrating with more airlines, hotels and online travel agencies to improve their reach and visibility. The company helps take all the stress out of traveling for business travelers who have other things to worry about. With the world becoming a smaller place every day, such services will help people settle in faster than ever before.
Being a cinephile with a love for all things outdoorsy, Athulya never misses a chance to chase inspiring stories or poke fun at things, even when the subject is herself. Currently pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, she is someone innately interested in technical and scientific research. Music reviews and op-eds define her as they allow her to explore different perspectives. Though sometimes she thinks she makes more sense playing the guitar than she does while writing.