Dutch and Danish car sharing platforms join forces to conquer Europe
Denmark’s first platform for peer-to-peer car rental, MinbilDinbil, has been acquired by the largest car sharing platform in the Netherlands, SnappCar.
MinbilDinbil takes a serious step back into the race for the Danish car sharing market as the Dutch counterpart SnappCar has bought the company. The merger makes SnappCar the second largest car sharing solution in Europe with a total carpool community of more than 100,000 Danish and Dutch members who share more than 12,500 cars.
A good match to benefit users
MinbilDinbil was founded in 2013 as the first platform for car rental between private individuals in Denmark. SnappCar was founded in 2011 and is – when counting members – about five times greater than MinbilDinbil. The merger will not affect MinbilDinbil’s Danish and Norwegian users, as the company will continue to be operated under that name in the Nordic region.
In return, the MinbilDinbil users can now benefit from the know-how and customer care, SnappCar have built and the significantly increased fleet of shared cars that come with the merger. Valerio Sandri, who is co-founder of MinbilDinbil and will be the director of SnappCar’s Nordic division, tells about the acquisition:
“The merger with SnappCar allows us to expand and build an even stronger brand in Denmark and Northwestern Europe, where our customers can benefit from the broad knowledge, experience and geographical distribution, that Snappcar has built.”
Acquisitions are part of the European expansion
The acquisition of the Danish car sharing service is part of SnappCars vision to expand into urban areas throughout the Northwestern Europe starting with the Nordic region. The company aims strategically for areas close to cities where the demand for flexible transportation options is great – and where the mentality is ripe for sharing economy. The goal for SnappCar is to reach 250,000 European cars, which can be shared by millions of Europeans in 2018.
“For us SnappCar and MinbilDinbil are the perfect match, because we are both pioneers in the industry and are driven by a desire to create change based on user needs. In just about two years we have built a strong community in peer-to-peer car rental in Denmark, with a focus on trust and quality,” explains Valerio Sandri.
According to co-founder of SnappCar, Pascal Ontijd, the Danes have already demonstrated their goodwill towards the sharing economy and in particular for car sharing, so that is why Denmark and the Nordics are the obvious market for SnappCar to start their European expansion.
