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Berlin-based Bliq raises $13.5M to boost earnings for gig economy drivers across Europe, Middle East, and Africa 

Bliq
Image credits: Bliq

Berlin-based Bliq, which helps gig economy drivers in the on-demand mobility sector, has secured $13.5 million in Series A funding. The investment round was led by NEA alongside participation from Speedinvest (that invested in Lollipop and Byrd recently) and existing investors Proeza Ventures, Revel Venture Partners, and Andreas Kupke.

Expansion plans

It has been announced that Bliq will use the fresh funds to further grow its userbase of drivers across Europe. Also, the company will expand to serve the huge market of gig economy drivers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Previously, Bliq secured seed funding in late 2020 and has scaled to six European markets beyond its native Germany. Also, the drivers have completed over 500,000 trips accepted through the app. Besides this, the company itself conducted early user research and successful field tests in six African countries.

“Our ever-expanding automation engine enables drivers to quickly accept the offers that match their preferences and focus on driving safely and responsibly,” said Bliq co-founder and CEO Julian Glaab. “We’re building the first ever work tool for the on-demand economy that’s designed to support the way how drivers actually work. With Bliq, drivers can conveniently offer their time to multiple on-demand consumer brands at the same time. The opportunity here is massive: millions of independent workers conduct rides and deliveries worth hundreds of billions each year.”

Flexible workers have become a critical resource to many on-demand businesses,” said Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner, NEA. “Bliq recognises the value of these workers and is empowering them to process their entire workflow in a single interface, which enables increased efficiency, earnings, and more. Bliq’s strong resonation among the driver community has the company well-positioned to become the future operating system for the supply side of the gig economy. We are thrilled to partner with Julian, Torgen, Johannes and the Bliq team to help drive the next phase of exponential growth.”

Boosts earnings of gig economy drivers

It is quite common in the on-demand mobility sector to see drivers connected to more than one transport platform. Apparently, they can sit idle for as much as 60% of the time. Also, juggling between multiple apps is time-consuming and leads to missed opportunities, and safety concerns while driving.

Bliq was founded by Johannes Riedel, Julian Glaab and Torgen Hauschild in 2019 in Berlin. It aggregates jobs from Uber, Bolt, FreeNow, and others into one interface, thereby giving drivers easy access to more work without having to switch between apps, making their job simpler and allowing them to earn more. With this service, drivers obtain more work and earn 30% more each month.

Interestingly, they can compare available jobs side-by-side and frictionlessly accept those that interest them most. Bliq shows drivers trending locations via surge maps that use extensive real-time data map data based on driver activity, to help them identify the most lucrative areas in their city and get more rides by being in the right place at the right time.

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