Lyft acquires FreeNow for €175M, doubling its market reach
Lyft is expanding beyond North America for the first time with the acquisition of German mobility platform FreeNow for €175 million. The deal, expected to close in the second half of the year, will extend Lyft’s ride-hailing services into 11 European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, and the UK. FreeNow, founded in 2009 and currently owned by BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility, operates in more than 150 cities across Europe and primarily focuses on taxi bookings. Lyft said there will be no immediate changes to FreeNow’s customer experience but plans to introduce greater pricing transparency and other improvements in the future.
The acquisition will double Lyft’s total addressable market to over 300 billion personal trips annually and boost annualized gross bookings by €1 billion. Lyft CEO David Risher emphasised that FreeNow’s local-first approach aligns closely with Lyft’s values, while FreeNow CEO Thomas Zimmermann called the deal a major step toward strengthening their leadership in European mobility. The move positions Lyft more competitively in Europe against rivals like Uber and Bolt, with the latter having recently expanded through acquisitions and new features like airport ride tracking. Lyft aims for this acquisition to accelerate its growth and open opportunities for future partnerships.
Travel companies race to embrace AI in new era of intelligent operations
Phocuswright’s first The New Age(nts) Trend Series event explored how generative AI and autonomous agents are transforming the operations of travel companies. Featuring leaders from Mobi.ai, Manna, Meili, and HotelPlanner, the panel stressed the urgent need for AI fluency across organisations to avoid falling behind. Speakers highlighted that companies must culturally embrace AI experimentation, invest in workforce training, and ensure data quality to unlock the full potential of AI-driven operations. Without clean and up-to-date data, even the most advanced AI systems will struggle to deliver accurate results.
A major theme was the shift toward agentic AI becoming a core distribution channel, which will force companies to rethink customer engagement strategies. Panelists emphasised that AI must evolve beyond analysing historical data to understanding travellers in real time, responding to dynamic preferences and contexts. Anna Jaffe of Mobi.ai noted that relying solely on past bookings is insufficient; travel companies must adapt to serve the customer in the moment. Flexibility and continuous education for executives were also cited as essential to leveraging AI innovations for competitive advantage.
Tim Hentschel of HotelPlanner provided a practical example of AI implementation, describing their voice reservation system trained on eight million successful human calls. The result is 24 AI agent personalities with emotional intelligence and regional accents, currently handling 50,000 calls a day. The goal, Hentschel explained, is to achieve customer satisfaction and conversion rates comparable to human agents.
Lighthouse expands power in hospitality tech with acquisition of The Hotels Network
Lighthouse, a market intelligence platform, has acquired The Hotels Network (THN), a Spain-based marketing personalisation technology provider that helps hotels boost direct bookings. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Lighthouse CEO Sean Fitzpatrick said integrating THN’s technology with Lighthouse’s pricing and market demand data will allow hotels to create more personalised guest experiences and drive more revenue through direct channels. The acquisition follows Lighthouse’s recent $370 million Series C investment and builds on its string of past purchases, including HQ revenue, Stardekk, Transparent, and Kriya RevGen.
Founded in 2015, THN works with over 20,000 hotels and claims to deliver an average 32% lift in direct bookings by using AI, real-time behavior tracking, and predictive algorithms. THN CEO Juanjo Rodriguez said joining Lighthouse will strengthen their mission to help hotels maximize direct sales.
Zenmer launches Gen AI travel assistant with Agentic Intelligence
Zenmer has introduced Zenia V2, its latest AI-powered travel assistant, featuring advanced Agentic AI capabilities. Unveiled at the Business Travel Innovation Face Off, Zenia V2 integrates into Zenmer’s core travel management tools, allowing business travellers and consultants to search, quote, book, and manage trips using natural language. Even through email, and soon through platforms like WhatsApp, Slack, and Teams. Zenia V2 also supports cancellations, changes, post-booking tasks, and provides travel policy guidance, aiming to boost productivity and deliver highly personalized travel support across multiple languages.
Key upgrades in Zenia V2 include off-platform trip fulfillment, real-time trip and post-trip support, actionable booking and consulting capabilities, and traveler-centric personalization based on profiles, loyalty programs, and company policies. Zenmer CEO Nikunj Agrawal called it the most advanced travel assistant to date, highlighting how its deep understanding of business travel needs will save valuable time for travelers and advisors alike.
