Vancouver’s HitchPlanet Acquires Maritime Rideshare
HALIFAX–Vancouver, BC-based ridesharing company HitchPlanet today announced it has acquired the user base and name of Maritime Rideshare, a company with a similar offering in the Maritimes.
Maritime Rideshare was an East Coast startup launched by founders Nathalie Arsenault and Aaron Lewis. It had 8000 users.
Financial terms of the deal were not released.
Hitchplanet is one of a growing number of businesses focused on having a social impact. In many communities in the Maritimes, “there’s no way to get around unless you own a car,” said company founder Flo Devellennes. Ride sharing solves that problem in communities that don’t have any kind of public transportation in a scalable way.
“We have always wanted to be Canada-wide,” said Devellennes. The company began as a ride sharing service for skiers travelling between Vancouver and Whistler, and has expanded throughout the Pacific Northwest. With a presence on the East Coast, Devellennes says the company will began pushing inward to the Central Canadian market.
“We saw a very strong market opportunity because of limited options for non-drivers or those without vehicles in Atlantic Canada. The popularity of Maritime Rideshare also gave us confidence in the Atlantic market.”
The company’s goal is to break the 500,000 kms shared and reach 50,000 members by the end of 2016.