The inside story of BlaBlaCar

BlaBlaCar is the French online ride-sharing company that pairs people travelling between cities with drivers with empty seats in their car.

When it was set up in 2006, founders Nicolas Brusson and Frederic Mazzella found it difficult to persuade customers or investors the idea would take off.

But the popularity and success of BlaBlaCar today is likely to make any investor who turned them down 10 years ago cry into their cornflakes. The latest round of funding values the company at more than £1.2bn ($1.5bn; €1.4bn).

The company makes its money by taking a percentage of the cost of the journeys taken by its 35 million members in 22 countries.