Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups?

Re:Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups? by boreas on Tuesday September 15, 2015 @08:49PM (#10224044)

BlaBlaCar is actually owned by SNCF, the French state-owned railway company. So Blablacar is actually part of the government monopoly on all long-distance travel (even highways cost money to use). I don't think it's the best standard-bearer for the European startup scene.

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Re:Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups? by SilasX on Tuesday September 15, 2015 @09:42PM (#10224218)

Wait, what? The Wikipedia page says it's private. Even the French version makes no reference to SNCF. The closest I could find was SNCF being one of many investor-owners. [1]

Even if it were so owned, its entire history looks like a startup (lots of financing rounds, building out the product, about having to raise capital), so even if there was a buyout, it overcame whatever regulatory hurdles should have prevented this kind of thing in France.

Where are you getting this information?

[1] http://bfmbusiness.bfmtv.com/entreprise/la-sncf-investit-28-...

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Re:Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups? by tim333 on Wednesday September 16, 2015 @04:35AM (#10225371)

Turns out SNCF set up a Bla Bla competitor / rip off which it owns - idvroom.

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Re:Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups? by ThomPete on Thursday September 17, 2015 @03:41PM (#10235594)

But the way BlaBlaCar work is as far as I understand very different from the Uber model no?

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Re:Why Is Europe Failing to Create More $1B Startups? by pyb on Wednesday September 16, 2015 @12:38PM (#10227868)

Not at all.

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