Carpooling service Via just completed a funding round, the proceeds of which the company intends to use to expand its service in the U.S. and to establish a presence in Europe, TechCrunch reports. Via will begin London operations in the near future, and Paris service soon after.

The amount of the funding round remains undisclosed, but a source told TechCrunch the number was $250 million.

Prior to the investment round, Zirra estimated the company’s value between $450 million and $500 million, TechCrunch notes. Following the round, then, Via could be worth as much as $750 million.

Via provides carpool service to riders seeking a cheaper alternative to operations like Uber and Lyft. A single Via vehicle carries up to five passengers at a time, so customers can book rides for as little as $5 plus tax. An algorithm determines routes in real-time as customers request rides, so unlike conventional public transit systems, Via is not constrained by a preset schedule. The company’s website says the average wait time is five minutes.

Today, Via runs 24-hour service in its hometown of New York City and also operates in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. TechCrunch says the service gives about one million rides per month.

In addition to running its own operation, Via licenses its platform to other transportation companies, including Arriva—a subsidiary of German-based railway company Deutsche Bahn AG—which operates buses, trains, and other mass transit options across 14 countries in Europe, and Keolis, a subsidiary of France-based SNCF, which offers similar service worldwide.

Daimler AG, which owns Mercedes-Benz, led Via’s most recent funding round, and the two companies plan to intensify their partnership. In addition to its contribution to the funding round, Daimler will provide $50 million towards a joint venture project with Via.

The two companies have been collaborating for years, TechCrunch notes. In late 2015, Via joined forces with Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc. to launch a pilot program in Orange County, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. Mercedes provided Via with Metris passenger vans for that trial program.

Daimler and Mercedes will likely provide vehicles for Via’s European expansion as well. The partnership with Via will give Daimler a ready-made sales connection and will provide a platform through which Daimler can develop and test vehicles optimized for carpooling.

As tech-based transportation start-ups change the way consumers approach moving around, automakers are seeking the most efficient ways to adapt to the changes in the industry.

“One big question is, ‘what is the right vehicle?’” Via CTO and co-founder Oren Shoval told TechCrunch “There are the seating arrangements, how you connect the sensors, what kind of door it should have. This is a big piece of mobility.”

Shoval adds that the Via-Mercedes partnership will streamline and solidify Via’s service. “We also believe that the vehicles in the network, at the end of the day, it’s not just an app but a whole service that you are getting. It makes sense to have these things converge,” said Shoval.

Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, echoed Shoval’s sentiment that the partnership would improve Via’s service, and added that the collaboration was important to Daimler’s long-term strategy in the changing transportation sector.

“Via is one of the most successful providers in the growing ride-sharing sector while Mercedes-Benz Vans has the perfect vehicles that are being continuously optimized for this job,” he said. “By deepening our cooperation with Via, we are thus taking the next logical step in the context of our strategy for the future and are expanding our range of new mobility services.”

Daimler launched Car2Go, which allows users to rent cars parked in various places around a city and then return those cars to one of many drop zones around town, in 2008. Now, Car2Go operates in 26 cities across North America, Europe and Asia, and serves 2.5 million registered members.

Daimler, in tandem with Audi and BMW, bought GPS mapping service Here in late 2015 and has independently acquired a number of ride-sharing companies, including Germany’s MyTaxi, the U.K.’s Hailo, and Taxibeat in Greece. All three of those services have merged under the MyTaxi umbrella since Daimler acquired them.

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