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Hungarian car sharing startup takes off at Dortmund Airport

Düsseldorf, 21 June 2017 – The Hungarian company BeeRides is cooperating with Dortmund Airport, where it is now offering a new peer-to-peer (private) car sharing concept. Established in Budapest in 2015, the startup is now expanding internationally and setting up a subsidiary in NRW to service the German market from here.

With BeeRides, travelers who fly from Dortmund and leave their vehicle at the airport can rent out their car to arriving tourists during their absence. The company takes care of the entire organization and transaction process of vehicle rental automatically via an online platform while guaranteeing full insurance cover.

The cooperation between the startup and Dortmund Airport came about mainly due to the efforts of the Hungarian Consulate General, with the support of NRW.INVEST. Both in Hungary and in NRW, cooperation between traditional industry and innovative startups play a central role in the development of the economy. Consul General Balazs Szegner stresses how much both sides benefit from such a project: "International exchange is an important stimulus to strengthen the competitiveness of our two states, for example in the field of digitization. Numerous innovative startups from Hungary offer interesting and attractive opportunities for companies in the German economy."

The Hungarian start-up scene is becoming increasingly international. With BeeRides already establishing itself as market leader in the Hungarian car sharing segment with enormous growth of more than 600 percent last year, founder and CEO Botond A. Bözse now has his sights on the next phase of growth and internationalization: "Expanding the market to Germany is the next logical step for us. The companies here are known for being open to new ideas and at Dortmund Airport, everything came together for us: Our sharing economy concept contributes to the airport's sustainability strategy."

Petra Wassner, CEO of NRW.INVEST, praises the cooperation project between BeeRides and Dortmund Airport as an example of the successful cooperation with the Hungarian Consulate General: "We are delighted that we were able to convince the Hungarian start-up scene of NRW's merits as a business location. The young companies will find a broad market for growth here, as well as numerous industrial partners to drive their technologies and ideas forward."

With the new service at Dortmund Airport, airport managing director Udo Mager takes an open-minded approach to new mobility models. He explains: "In this way we are complementing our existing mobility services meaningfully and, at the same time, we are successively pursuing the concept of sustainability. The changes in customer conditions require a rethink and an open mind regarding unconventional mobility services."

In March of this year, BeeRides took first place at the Hungarian Tech Day in Düsseldorf organized by Vodafone and the Hungarian Consulate General with the support of NRW.INVEST. Ten Hungarian start-ups presented their ideas on the topics smart city and mobility to an expert jury.