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Anyone who has walked or driven around in any major city in Germany will likely have seen big, green buses with the words Flix written on the outside.
A decade ago, running a private bus service would not have been possible in Germany. In 1994, Deutsche Bahn established a monopoly over the country’s ground-based travel market that would last for over 70 years — until the government deregulated it in 2013.
Flix, which was founded in 2011, had prepared for this moment and quickly became one of the first private companies in Germany to offer long-distance bus routes. Within twelve months, it established a nationwide bus network in its home market and began expanding to Austria and Switzerland.
Today, Flix has grown into a €3bn global mobility platform, offering buses, coaches and trains across 43 countries in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia.
“The market was still in its infancy when we first met Andre, Jochen and Daniel in early 2013, but the massive impact of what they were building was really clear,” says David Kuczek, partner at HV Capital.
“The team wanted to give millions of customers access to a seamless, inexpensive and comfortable travel experience. It represented the values of freedom, independence and opportunity that we really believe in at HV.”
HV first backed Flix in 2013 with a €1.2m cheque, and has since invested around €100m in the company across two of its funds.
Anyone who has walked or driven around in any major city in Germany will likely have seen big, green buses with the words Flix written on the outside.
A decade ago, running a private bus service would not have been possible in Germany. In 1994, Deutsche Bahn established a monopoly over the country’s ground-based travel market that would last for over 70 years — until the government deregulated it in 2013.
Flix, which was founded in 2011, had prepared for this moment and quickly became one of the first private companies in Germany to offer long-distance bus routes. Within twelve months, it established a nationwide bus network in its home market and began expanding to Austria and Switzerland.
Today, Flix has grown into a €3bn global mobility platform, offering buses, coaches and trains across 43 countries in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia.
“The market was still in its infancy when we first met Andre, Jochen and Daniel in early 2013, but the massive impact of what they were building was really clear,” says David Kuczek, partner at HV Capital.
“The team wanted to give millions of customers access to a seamless, inexpensive and comfortable travel experience. It represented the values of freedom, independence and opportunity that we really believe in at HV.”
HV first backed Flix in 2013 with a €1.2m cheque, and has since invested around €100m in the company across two of its funds.
HV investors were impressed with Flix’s business model which, unlike those of incumbent bus operators at the time, was asset-light and scaleable.
Flix chose not to own the buses itself, but to partner with local bus operators that handle the buying, maintaining and insuring of the buses, which enabled it to scale quickly into new markets.
The company built up its own proprietary technology: a platform for bus operators to plan networks and manage their fleets, and an app for customers to book tickets and track their journeys.
The defining characteristic of Flix’s founders throughout the company’s journey is their willingness to make bold decisions under uncertainty, says David.
He recalls the time in January 2015 when Flix merged with its competitor MeinFernBus — a Berlin startup three times its size! — to capture more of the European market and become the dominant player.
“The merger was by far the most important decision in Flix’s history,” says David. “The market was so competitive, if they wouldn’t have got it done, it would have been a disaster. I don’t know if Flix would even exist."
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"HV has always been a perfect sparring partner across a variety of topics and we have a very trustful relationship. Together with HV we will accelerate our growth to offer smart and sustainable travel options to even more people across the world."
Jochen Engert
Co-Founder & CEO, Flix
Another major decision the Flix founders made in its journey so far came in October 2021, says David.
Flix announced it was to acquire “a super heavily distressed, extremely asset heavy” bus company during Covid-19, when global travel was at a standstill. The acquisition target was Greyhound, an iconic American bus company founded in 1914 and then owned by UK-based player FirstGroup which had been heavily loss-making for years.
While its board members weren’t all keen on the idea, Flix bought Greyhound, acquiring its fleet, bus network of 2,400 destinations in North America, as well as its then 16m annual passengers. It was the company’s first big step into the US market.
“The acquisition opened up a lot of opportunities in the US. Flix took out one competitor and then established itself as an acquisitive company that could then acquire several smaller players in the market too,” says David. “It led to market domination in the US, which is the only way you can make money in this business, right?”
Flix showed it was a company that would consistently go against the grain. “The founders were so convinced and they were so aggressive to kind of push it through against a lot of people, and in the end it was a great deal," says David.
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Flix is still aggressively expanding, with the aim of becoming the dominant player in every market globally.
It’s also betting on a second business model altogether. Flix wants to expand its rail business, which it started in 2017 when it helped revive the insolvent startup Locomore and later folded its rail operations into FlixTrain.
“The founder used to say that a train is basically a big bus — it’s still about moving people from A to B,” says David. “There’s a lot of potential for trains in Europe, especially because the infrastructure already exists, but it’s a different model. Rail is much more asset-heavy: you need trains, and they are not built overnight. It takes time and it’s expensive.”
The founders are characteristically unswayed by the challenge.
In 2025, FlixTrain announced it would invest €2.4bn in 65 high-speed electric trains to enter new European markets and grow its German network. In a press release, Flix CEO André Schwämmlein declared it “the new era of train travel.”
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FlixMobility broke a 70-year Deutsche Bahn monopoly on the day Germany deregulated intercity travel. Built on an asset-light technology platform — owning no buses and employing no drivers — Flix became Europe's largest long-distance travel network within three years of its first route. Today, it’s set its sights on becoming the dominant player in each market globally.