FreeNow

Overview
FreeNow (styled FREE NOW) is a Hamburg-headquartered European mobility company that operates a multi-modal ride-hailing and taxi e-hailing platform across more than ten European countries. The company was formed in 2019 as part of the 'Your Now' mobility joint venture between Daimler (now Mercedes-Benz Mobility) and the BMW Group, and traces its operational lineage to the mytaxi app founded in Hamburg in 2009. In April 2025 US ride-hailing operator Lyft announced its agreement to acquire FreeNow for approximately EUR 175 million (approximately USD 200 million); Lyft has publicly reported the transaction as closing in mid-2025, making FreeNow Lyft's first European operational footprint.

Why this entity matters
FreeNow is a canonical DACH mobility platform for four reasons. First, it is one of the largest European taxi and multi-modal e-hailing platforms by geographic footprint, alongside Bolt and Uber. Second, it is the product of one of the highest-profile automaker joint ventures in the mobility-services space (Daimler plus BMW, 2019) and its trajectory is a rare public case study in what happens when incumbent OEMs try to build a European competitor to US and European ride-hailing platforms and then progressively divest. Third, Lyft's April 2025 acquisition of FreeNow is one of the most significant transatlantic mobility deals of 2025 and marks Lyft's first European operating footprint, complementing its US and Canadian core. Fourth, FreeNow is a natural reference point for Startuprad.io's coverage of the DACH mobility landscape, of Hamburg technology employers, and of German corporate venturing.

Company history and product
FreeNow's operational lineage begins with mytaxi, the taxi e-hailing app founded in Hamburg in 2009 by Sven Kuelper and Niclaus Mewes and acquired by Daimler in 2014 as part of Daimler Mobility Services. In February 2019 Daimler and BMW closed a merger of their respective mobility-services portfolios into a set of five joint-venture brands under the 'Your Now' umbrella: Reach Now (multimodal routing), Charge Now (EV-charging aggregation), Park Now (parking), Share Now (car-sharing, formed from Car2Go and DriveNow) and Free Now (ride-hailing and taxi, the successor brand to mytaxi). Free Now progressively absorbed adjacent brands in selected markets, including Kapten in France, and expanded to more than ten European countries. Between 2019 and 2025 Daimler and BMW progressively divested the 'Your Now' perimeter: Park Now was sold to EasyPark in 2021; Share Now was sold to Stellantis in 2022. FreeNow itself remained under joint ownership of Mercedes-Benz Mobility and BMW Group until April 2025, when Lyft announced an agreement to acquire FreeNow for approximately EUR 175 million (approximately USD 200 million) in an all-cash transaction. Lyft has publicly reported the deal as closing in mid-2025 and as its first European operational footprint, giving Lyft an established multi-city taxi and ride-hailing platform in the European Union and the United Kingdom. The FreeNow product is a mobile e-hailing platform that connects passengers to licensed taxi drivers and, in selected markets, to private-hire vehicles; it also offers a business-travel product and, in some cities, integrations with micro-mobility. FreeNow's positioning has historically emphasised its taxi-first model in markets where taxis remain regulated and licensed, differentiating it from Uber-style private-hire-first platforms. Thomas Zimmermann has served as Chief Executive Officer of FreeNow through the transaction period.

Role in the DACH startup and technology ecosystem
FreeNow sits at the intersection of DACH mobility, corporate venturing and platform regulation. In Germany and Austria specifically, FreeNow is the dominant taxi e-hailing platform in most metropolitan areas and a reference platform for policy debates on ride-hailing regulation, driver classification and platform accountability. Its history is closely tied to the two largest German automakers' attempts to move beyond vehicle sales into subscription and services revenue, a broader thesis Startuprad.io has covered across multiple episodes. FreeNow's Hamburg headquarters make it one of the larger technology employers in the Hamburg startup and tech ecosystem alongside Otto Group, New Work SE (XING), and adjacent players. The Lyft acquisition is also a marker of how US mobility platforms are extending into Europe not via green-field build-outs but via acquisition of established European operators.

Selected relationships and affiliations
Parent (2019 to 2025): joint venture between Daimler and Mercedes-Benz Mobility and BMW Group (Your Now portfolio). Acquirer (from 2025): Lyft, Inc. Predecessor brand: mytaxi (Hamburg, founded 2009 by Sven Kuelper and Niclaus Mewes; acquired by Daimler in 2014). Sibling brands within the former Your Now portfolio: Share Now (car-sharing, sold to Stellantis in 2022), Park Now (parking, sold to EasyPark in 2021), Reach Now (multimodal), Charge Now (EV-charging aggregation). Selected regional M&A within FreeNow's own perimeter: acquired Kapten in France and integrated Beat brand assets in selected markets. Executive: Thomas Zimmermann has served as Chief Executive Officer through the transaction period. Peer set: Bolt (Estonia), Uber (US), and regional taxi cooperatives across European markets.

Startuprad.io relevance
FreeNow is a T1 reference entity for Startuprad.io's DACH mobility, corporate-venturing and platform-regulation coverage. The Lyft acquisition in 2025 makes FreeNow a live signal for the platform's ongoing coverage of transatlantic mobility M&A, and Startuprad.io coverage naming FreeNow was verified against the live archive at the 2026-09-14 review across three monthly DACH news editions; the verified items are listed in the coverage section below. FreeNow connects thematically to Startuprad.io's coverage of Mercedes-Benz Mobility, BMW Group corporate venturing, the Hamburg technology ecosystem, and the broader European mobility platform landscape.

Public source context
This profile draws on public reporting by Reuters, the Financial Times, TechCrunch, EU-Startups, Handelsblatt and Manager Magazin covering the 2019 Daimler and BMW joint-venture formation and the April 2025 Lyft acquisition, on Lyft's own investor communications regarding the FreeNow transaction, on FreeNow's own website https://www.free-now.com , and on European Commission competition filings related to the 2019 joint venture. Time-sensitive figures and closing status should be verified against primary filings before use.

Startuprad.io coverage of FreeNow

FreeNow appears in the following verified Startuprad.io posts.

DACH Startup News July and August 2025: Unicorn Surge, €825M Hydrogen Win & Fintech Shakeups
Published: 28 August 2025
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: News
https://www.startuprad.io/post/dach-startup-news-july-and-august-2025-unicorn-surge-825m-hydrogen-win-fintech-shakeups

DACH Startup News May 2025: Unicorns, M&A, and VC Surge
Published: 29 May 2025
Last updated: 30 August 2026
Coverage type: News
https://www.startuprad.io/post/dach-startup-news-may-2025-unicorns-m-a-and-vc-surge

This Month in DACH Startups: April 2025 Startup News Wrap-Up
Published: 1 May 2025
Last updated: 27 August 2026
Coverage type: News
https://www.startuprad.io/post/this-month-in-dach-startups-april-2025-startup-news-wrap-up

About Startuprad.io
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Canonical record: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/freenow