Die E-Scooter-Welle wird im Frühjahr Deutschland erreichen, wenn die Bundesregierung sich auf eine Regulierung der Fahrzeuge geeinigt hat. Die Startups stehen bereits in den Startlöchern. Neben den US-Startups Lime (Das hierzulande mit E-Bikes bereits vertreten ist) und Bird werden aus Deutschland auch mindestens drei On-Demand-Anbieter dabei sein. Laut Spiegel hat sich neben Tier (25 Millionen €) und Wind Mobility (22 Millionen €) das aktuell noch nur als Gerücht kursierende GoFlash sogar 50 Millionen € gesichert.
TechCrunch berichtet über die E-Scooter:
Tier, one of a number of electric scooter rental startups based in Berlin, has raised a chunky €25 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is VC fund Northzone, with participation from existing investors Speedinvest, and Point Nine.
The investment marks the biggest financial backing for a European company in the space, and, according to my sources, signals the beginning of a pending VC war to create the “Bird or Lime of Europe”.
Go Flash (or perhaps just “Flash”), founded by Delivery Hero and Team Europe founder Lukasz Gadowski, is also thought to be out raising a war chest from VCs across Europe. I understand the yet-to-launch startup is already backed by Gadowski’s own cash and €2 million from the mobility arm of Target global.
And just two month’s ago Taxify announced its intention to do e-scooter rentals under the brand Bolt, first launched in Paris but also planning to be pan-European, including Germany. To name just a few.
Meanwhile, Bird and Lime have made tentative launches in Europe. The U.S. e-scooter services are both available in Paris, with other European cities expected soon (Update: Bird is actually active in Paris, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Antwerp, Vienna and Zurich).
Just hat das ebenfalls in Berlin sitzende Wind Mobility 22 Millionen $ eingesammelt:
Investing in Wind Mobility’s rather large seed round is Chinese Source Code Capital, and Europe’s HV Holtzbrinck Ventures. The company says the investment will be used for global expansion and to further develop its e-scooter product. Wind currently operates its e-scooter rental service in various cities in Spain, France and the U.S., and its dockless bicycle rental service Byke in Germany.
Notably, Wind is currently developing its first proprietary model of electric scooters specifically designed for the sharing market, which co-founder and CEO Eric Wang tells me will become a significant differentiator going forward.
Das könnte besonders für den höher regulierten deutschen Markt wichtig werden.
Ebenfalls vielversprechend ist VOI aus Schweden. TechCrunch:
Launched in Sweden’s Stockholm in August 2018 by founders Fredrik Hjelm, Douglas Stark, Adam Jafer and Filip Lindvall, VOI has since expanded to Madrid, Zaragoza and Malaga in Spain. The plan is to use the new funding to continue to expand into new European markets. Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Portugal are said to be launching “in the coming months”. The VOI jobs page reveals that VOI is recruiting country managers for Denmark, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, and Finland, too.
Interessant auch was der VOI-CEO über Stadtverwaltungen zu sagen hat:
“When you are reading the news, you get the feeling that city politicians are against scooters. The reality is the other way around,” [VOI-CEO Fredrik Hjelm] says. “The only thing is that they want a say in this and how it should be operated, so we don’t end up in a scooter graveyard situation that we see in some U.S. cities… Pretty much every European city has some kind of ambition or vision to become less dependent on fossil fuel driven cars and other vehicles”.
