The Auro story runs almost a full decade, from dormant permits to a nine-figure deal. Traced in order, it shows how Alejandro Betancourt López turned a quiet bet into one of Europe’s more notable ride-hailing transactions.
No single moment made the company. The value built up step by step, each one setting up the next.
From dormant permits to a working fleet
The early beats laid the groundwork. Spain fixed its one-VTC-per-30-taxis ratio in 2015, permits traded near €5,000, and Auro began accumulating more than 2,000 of them while building a fleet across Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Málaga.
By full scale, the operation had real heft. Auro employed more than 3,500 drivers and held upwards of 3,000 licenses across Spain’s four largest metropolitan areas.
From competing bids to the Uber deal
The later beats turned holdings into headlines. Uber and Cabify each bid roughly €200 million for Auro in November 2022, Spain’s Constitutional Court freed the company from its Cabify exclusivity deal in December 2024, and Uber took a 30% stake for €220 million on Feb. 28, 2025.
The arc rewarded the early conviction. “Nothing risked, nothing conquered,” Betancourt López said, a line the timeline bears out across nearly ten years of patient accumulation.