French ride-sharing start-up Blablacar raises $200 million

PARIS (Reuters) - French ride-sharing start-up Blablacar has raised $200 million from three venture capital funds as it pursues its expansion in emerging markets. Blabacar, which is already present across Europe and launched recently in Russia, India, Mexico and Turkey, was valued at 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in the fund-raising round, said a person close to the matter. Nicolas Busson, the co-founder and chief operating officer, told Reuters the company planned to launch in Brazil later this year and would aim to expand into other emerging markets in Latin America and Asia next year. The company puts people in touch so they can share the cost of long-distance car trips, but does not include taxi hailing or offer rides with professional drivers. "Today we have a community of 20 million people," said Busson. "We are scaling Blablacar in emerging markets." Blablacar, whose name is a play on how much chatter drivers and passengers can put up with on long-haul journeys, has already raised three previous rounds of from big name venture capital funds including Accel Partners and Index Ventures. Insight Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital and Vostok New Ventures participated in the fund-raising round. ($1 = 0.8864 euros) (Reporting by Leila Abboud; Editing by Greg Mahlich)