BP expands into ride-hailing business with Freebee investment
The app-based service provides free, on-demand transportation to local communities and the mobility company’s support will help in its expansion throughout the U.S.
bp ventures has invested $6 million in all-electric ride-hailing business Freebee. The Miami-based company provides free, on-demand transportation to local communities through their mobile app Ride Freebee. The mobility firm led the business’s $8 million Series A funding round, with support from Freebee’s current infrastructure capital partner, Tensile Mobility.
Freebee’s free-to-the-user trips are financed through local governments as part of municipalities’ public transport networks. Private entities also take part in this financing such as corporate business parks, hotels and resorts, and university campuses. Established in the state of Florida, it seeks to address the many issues arising from increased use of personal vehicles in the country like traffic congestion and increased carbon emissions.
“bp ventures invests in companies that align with bp’s ambition to be net zero by 2050 or sooner. The team at Freebee has come up with a brilliant business idea that incentivizes travel by electric vehicles without any cost to the user,” said Shaun Healey, Principal at bp ventures.
Freebee owns a fleet of over 150 electric vehicles and employs more than 230 drivers on a full-time basis. This investment will help the firm boost its technology development capacity and expand the team, helping to scale the business across the U.S. The service is targeting an expansion into seven new cities, a development that is expected to help the business move over 1 million passengers by the end of the year.
As well as leading the funding round, bp will also work with Freebee on scaling the business across the U.S. and will explore opportunities to collaborate on the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure, progressing bp’s mobility growth engine.
