About FREE NOW
FREE NOW is a Transportation, Automotive & Logistics company based in Hamburg (Germany) founded in 2009, and was acquired by Lyft in April 2025. FREE NOW has raised $76.45 million across 4 funding rounds from investors including Lyft, Accel and Atomico. FREE NOW has completed 1 acquisition, including Djump. Its chief executive is Eckart Diepenhorst. Its website free-now.com draws about 702 thousand monthly visits. FREE NOW offers products and services including Taxi App, eScooter Service, and eBike Service. Its focus areas include Consumer, Road Transport Tech, Super App and Travel and Hospitality Tech. Its competitors include Grab, inDrive, Bolt, Gozem and YASSIR and 3 more; 7 of its 8 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
App-based ride-hailing and multi-category vehicle sharing platform. Users can find and book their ride by providing the pickup and drop location, vehicle type, and more. It also has several features like live tracking of the ride, shares the live location to friends and families, pre-booking of taxies, and more. Also, it offers electric kick scooter sharing, car-sharing services, and more. The mobile app is available for both Android and iOS devices.
Products & Services of FREE NOW
FREE NOW offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Taxi App, eScooter Service, and eBike Service.
App for booking taxis and quick urban transport services
Service for renting eScooters for short-distance travel
Service for renting eBikes for eco-friendly commuting
Apps and channels of FREE NOW
FREE NOW publishes 1 mobile app with over 10M+ downloads; its YouTube channel Freenow has 1.82K subscribers and 30 videos.
Videos from FREE NOW
The most watched videos on FREE NOW's YouTube channel, Freenow (1.82K subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on Freenow.
Funding Insights of FREE NOW
FREE NOW has successfully raised a total of $76.45M across 4 strategic funding rounds. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $76.45M
- Total Rounds 4
- First Round $17M
(Mar 2012)
- Investors Count 7
All 4 funding rounds of FREE NOW with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2014 | – | Series B | – | Hikari Tsushin | – |
| Jan 2014 | $28.85M | Series B | – | – | – |
| Feb 2013 | $30.6M | Series B | – | Union Square Ventures | |
| Mar 2012 | $17M | Series A | – | Accel |
8 investors in total: 8 institutional.
Investors in FREE NOW
FREE NOW has secured backing from 8 investors, including institutional and venture fund investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Lyft, Accel and Atomico.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Venture capital firm focused on blockchain, wellbeing, and multiple sectors | – | usv.com | New York, United States | |
Accel is recognized as a leading venture capital firm. | 1983 | accel.com | Palo Alto, United States | |
Tech-based companies are invested in by Atomico venture capital fund. | 2006 | atomico.com | London, United Kingdom | |
A global venture capital firm focused on high-growth investments. | – | phenomenvc.com | London, United Kingdom | |
Investments in tech seed and mid-stage ventures are targeted. | – | kddi.com/ventures/koif | San Francisco, United States | |
Investments are made in early-stage healthcare startups. | – | wellington-partners.com | Munich, Germany | |
Multiple industries are operated in by the diversified conglomerate. | 1988 | hikari.co.jp | Toshima City, Japan | |
App-based ride-hailing aggregator | 2007 | lyft.com | San Francisco, United States |
Investor details for FREE NOW
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
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People of FREE NOW
183 people are tracked at FREE NOW (47 in leadership, 136 in team).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Jaume Viñas Navas | – | Leadership |
Eckart Diepenhorst | CEO | Leadership |
Marc Berg | CEO | Leadership |
Thomas Zimmermann | Chief Executive Officer | Leadership |
Ara Salbashian | Head Of Digital Marketing | Leadership |
Nadja Jovanovic | Head Of Marketing Greece | Leadership |
Daniela Tavares MacHado | Director Of Operations | Leadership |
Tim Ossenfort | VP Engineering | Leadership |
Christian von Rumohr | Vice President Of Product & Engineering Fintech | Leadership |
Ashu Singhal | Chief Product And Technology Officer | Leadership |
Felix Brand | Chief Strategy Officer | Leadership |
Philipp Schöne | Director Of Engineering Rider Experience | Leadership |
Terry Patten | Head Of Quality Of Service | Leadership |
Aspasia Topalidou | General Manager | Leadership |
Sven Külper | CMO & Founder | Leadership |
Julia Schell | Director Of Finance | Leadership |
Lennart Zipfel | Chief Financial Officer | Leadership |
Nicolas A. Rücker | Head Of Legal (syndikusrechtsanwalt) | Leadership |
Anita Singh | Director Of Engineering | Leadership |
Henning Reimer | Vice President Engineering | Leadership |
163 more people are available in the full profile.
Complete people profiles for FREE NOW
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Investments & Acquisitions by FREE NOW
FREE NOW has strategically engaged in corporate development activities, having acquired 1 company. Notable acquisitions include Djump.
| Company Name | Description | Domain | Location | Founded | Acquired | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
On-demand ride-sharing taxi services are facilitated via a mobile app. | djump.in | Paris, France | 2013 | Jul 2015 | •••• |
Complete acquisition details for FREE NOW
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Competitors of FREE NOW
FREE NOW has 8 listed competitors in our database, 7 of them funded. They include Grab, inDrive, Bolt, Gozem and YASSIR, among others.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| grab.com | 2012 | Singapore | $10.38B | 11,934 | Ride-hailing and on-demand delivery services are aggregated via mobile app. | |
| indrive.com | 2012 | Mountain View, United States | $237M | 111 | Multiple services are booked via an app-based platform. | |
| bolt.eu | 2013 | Tallinn, Estonia | $1.98B | 1,321 | On-demand services are booked through an app-based platform. | |
| gozem.co | 2017 | Lome, Togo | $48.5M | – | Ride-hailing and on-demand services are aggregated through a mobile app. | |
| yassir.com | 2017 | Algiers, Algeria | $193.4M | – | Ride-hailing and on-demand services are facilitated through a mobile app. | |
| pideyummy.com | 2020 | – | – | – | A SuperApp for delivery and marketplace services in LATAM is operated. | |
| marti.tech | 2018 | Istanbul, Turkey | $27M | – | Ride-hailing services are operated via a mobility app for scooters. | |
| gojek.com | 2010 | Jakarta, Indonesia | $4.72B | – | App based platform offering on demand delivery and ride-hailing services |
Detailed competitors of FREE NOW
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
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Web traffic of FREE NOW
The website of FREE NOW (free-now.com) receives about 701.8K visits a month and ranks #64,835 among all websites worldwide, #1,815 in Ground Transportation.
- Monthly visits701.8K
▼ 1% vs previous month
- Unique visitors303.1K
per month
- Global rank#64,835
among all websites
- Category rank#1,815
Travel and Tourism · Ground Transportation
- Bounce rate40%
- Pages per visit4.1
- Average visit2 min 54 sec
- DevicesDesktop 27% · Mobile 73%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with FREE NOW. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
taxi-calculador.es | taxi-calculador.es | 100% | – | #1,652,772 | – |
intaxi.it | intaxi.it | 100% | – | #2,221,992 | – |
taxi-heute.de | taxi-heute.de | 100% | – | #1,063,381 | – |
| gett.com | 100% | 432.4K | #89,537 | View details | |
taxi-times.com | taxi-times.com | 100% | – | #813,836 | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for FREE NOW
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- 40 similar websites
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Top companies in Road Transport Tech
10 companies that operate in the same segment as FREE NOW (Road Transport Tech), ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ride-hailing and on-demand delivery services are aggregated via mobile app. | 2012 | Singapore, Singapore, Singapore | USD 10.38 B | USD 3.37 B | 57,733 | |
An online platform providing ride-hailing and food delivery services | 2009 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 13.21 B | USD 52.02 B | 34,000 | |
Ride-hailing, electric vehicles, and financial solutions are provided via app. | 2010 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 3.83 B | USD 278.63 M | 2,473 | |
Electric kick-scooters are rented through an app-based platform. | 2017 | Miami, Florida, United States | USD 765 M | USD 244.66 M | 953 | |
Operator of a bike taxi aggregation service, offering intra-city travel and first-mile, last-mile connectivity solutions | 2015 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 798.05 M | USD 19.11 M | 817 | |
Rides and deliveries are facilitated via a mobile app platform. | 2012 | Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates | USD 771.7 M | – | 6,360 | |
Electric kick-scooters are rented through an app-based platform. | 2017 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 1.4 B | – | 2,813 | |
Electric ride-hailing and cab services are provided via mobile app. | 2019 | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India | USD 168.52 M | – | – | |
Bus tickets are booked online via portal and mobile app. | 2006 | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | USD 10 M | – | – | |
App-based ride-hailing aggregator | 2007 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 5.02 B | USD 6.32 B | 3,913 |
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Related news about Free Now
Complete news archive for FREE NOW
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Frequently Asked Questions about FREE NOW
FREE NOW was founded in 2009 and raised its 1st funding round 3 years after it was founded.
FREE NOW is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. It is registered at Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
Eckart Diepenhorst is the current CEO of FREE NOW.
FREE NOW is a funded company, having raised a total of $76.45M across 4 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Series A of $17M, raised on Mar 2012.
App-based ride-hailing and multi-category vehicle sharing platform. Users can find and book their ride by providing the pickup and drop location, vehicle type, and more. It also has several features like live tracking of the ride, shares the live location to friends and families, pre-booking of taxies, and more. Also, it offers electric kick scooter sharing, car-sharing services, and more. The mobile app is available for both Android and iOS devices.
FREE NOW offers Taxi App, eScooter Service, and eBike Service.
FREE NOW has made 1 acquisition, including Djump.
FREE NOW has 8 investors. Key investors include Lyft, Accel, Atomico, Hikari Tsushin, and Union Square Ventures.
Yes. FREE NOW was acquired by Lyft in April 2025.
Yes. FREE NOW publishes FREENOW - Taxi and more, with over 10 million downloads.
The website of FREE NOW receives about 702 thousand visits a month and ranks #64,835 among all websites worldwide.