Europcar has announced its acquisition of a majority stake in Ubeeqo, a French startup specializing in car sharing. The operation is part of Europcar’s strategy to extend its mobility offering, says the company.

Additionally, Europcar will subscribe to a capital increase amounting to 4 million euros aimed at supporting Ubeeqo’s development — with the ambition of making it the European leader in new mobility technologies, according to the company.

Developing proprietary technology since 2009, Ubeeqo targets the expanding business mobility market by offering a range of innovative and complementary solutions, including:

• “Bettercar Sharing”: a car-sharing solution that promotes business fleet pooling.

• “Bettercar Connected”: the fleet management solution using onboard telematics that allows clients to analyze vehicle fleet usage (and not just costs) and generate new savings.

• “Mobilities Benefits”: “Mobilities” allow employees to abandon their large company cars and to benefit from (in addition to a smaller car or access to a fleet of shared cars) a mobility allowance to fund their personal travel needs (train, taxi, car rental, etc).

Ubeeqo solutions will be offered to Europcar’s business-to-business clients (a segment representing 46% of the group’s sales), says the company. Operating in France and Belgium, Ubeeqo is currently setting up in Germany and plans to deploy in the United Kingdom.

Europcar’s mobility offering includes a smartphone app and a joint venture with Daimler — involving car-sharing concept Car2Go, a collaborative mobility solution launched in 2012.

“With Ubeeqo, Europcar continues to develop its offering, its skills and its portfolio of technological innovations in mobility,” said Philippe Germond, Europcar CEO. “We are immensely attracted by the ingenuity and audacity of the solutions Ubeeqo comes up with. Together, we are going to simplify our customers’ lives by providing them with a new concept that adapts seamlessly to their usage patterns and mobility challenges.”

Ubeeqo’s staff will remain under the supervision of the founders, who will steer the company’s development with the support of Europcar.

“Ubeeqo is poised at the crossroads of major trends: the world we are offering our customers is collaborative, connected and environment friendly,” said Benoit Chatelier and Alexandre Crosby, Ubeeqo’s founding partners. “We are delighted that this vision matches Europcar’s. Joining this group is going to empower us to steeply accelerate our growth, and above all, make the mobility revolution we are promising to our clients even more real.”