If you’ve ever sat in an Uber (and who hasn’t?), you might notice your driver juggling three to four different mobile devices simultaneously. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to quickly deduce that this Uber driver is also a Bolt, FreeNow, Lyft, etc., etc. etc. driver.
In addition to those eyes not on the road, according to gig economy driver app aggregator Bliq, drivers that remain loyal to one and only one app can see idle times rise to 60%.
After raising €2 million in a seed round in mid-November of 2020, the Berlin-based startup is kicking things into high gear with a $13.5 million Series A round led by NEA. The fuel is expected to further flesh out the corralling of multiple driving services apps and push the product to more drivers across the EMEA region.
“We’re building the first-ever work tool for the on-demand economy that’s designed to support the way how drivers actually work,” explained CEO and co-founder Julian Glaab. “With Bliq, drivers can conveniently offer their time to multiple on-demand consumer brands at the same time. The opportunity here is massive: millions of independent workers conduct rides and deliveries worth hundreds of billions each year.”
The service counts some 13,000 registered drivers across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal, and Romania, and offers services that include side-by-side jobs comparisons, trending locations via surge maps that use extensive real-time data map data based on driver activity, and driver to driver chat functionality. Ultimately, this helps drivers be in the right place at the right time, and according to the startup, earn 30% more each month through their offer.
In addition to NEA’s lead, Bliq’s Series A round saw the participation of Speedinvest and existing investors Proeza Ventures, Revel Venture Partners, and Andreas Kupke.
“Bliq recognizes the value of these workers and is empowering them to process their entire workflow in a single interface, which enables increased efficiency, earnings, and more. Bliq’s strong resonation among the driver community has the company well-positioned to become the future operating system for the supply side of the gig economy,” concluded NEA’s Scott Sandell.
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