Bird, das bestfinanzierte E-Scooter-Startup, kommt jetzt auch nach Europa. Es beginnt mit Paris. Hauptkonkurrent Lime (E-Bikes und E-Scooter) hat die Expansion in Europa bereits begonnen. Limes E-Bikes sind zum Beispiel bereits in Berlin verfügbar.
Warum es wichtig ist: Neben E-Bikes und klassischen Fahrrädern sind E-Scooter die nächsten Vehikel, die per Smartphone und On-Demand die Fortbewegung revolutionieren. Mit ca. 24 km/h sind E-Scooter im Gegensatz zum Fahrrad (E oder nicht) allerdings ein deutlich neuartiger Formfaktor. Scooter und Fahrräder übernehmen über die On-Demand-Route zunehmend Wege von 1 bis 3 Kilometern.
Techcrunch über die Europa-Expansion von Bird:
“Paris is very forward-thinking on solving congestion issues and is one of the cities that’s dealing with the most congestion and pollution,” Bird Head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa Patrick Studener told TechCrunch.
Bird is also gearing up to deploy some scooters in Tel Aviv, where the company says it’s chatting with Tel Aviv University and some municipalities about making something work in those areas, Studener said.
Lime betreibt bereits Scooter in Paris:
As Bird expands to international markets, it’s worth noting that competitor Lime has operated its bikes and scooters outside of the U.S. for quite some time. Last December, Lime brought its bikes to a number of European cities and in June, Lime brought its scooters to Paris. Lime also recently raised a $335 million round and teamed up with transportation behemoth Uber.
Die Scooter-Startups gehen vorsichtig vor und beziehen die Städte ein, um ein Verbot (wie aktuell in San Francisco) zu vermeiden:
In Paris, Bird scooters will cost €1 to start followed by €0.15 per minute, which is exactly how much Lime charges. Bird says Paris city officials know the company is planning to deploy about 100 scooters in the city. But this isn’t an official partnership of sorts, Studener said.
“In both cities we’ve started conversations at the national and city levels with officials,” Studener said. “Our approach is to be very collaborative. Almost every city that I’m speaking to, their north star is very much aligned with our north star — and that’s reducing car ownership.”
Bird hat seinen Europa-Sitz in Amsterdam. Das Unternehmen hat bis dato 415 Millionen $ eingesammelt. Für Birds internationale Expansion ist Patrick Studener verantwortlich. Studener hat vorher Uber in Europa, dem mittleren Osten und Afrika nach vorn getrieben. Er weiß also sehr gut, was er macht.
Techcrunch über die letzte Finanzierungsrunde von Bird:
Bird, one of the emerging massively hyped Scooter startups, has roped in its next pile of funding by picking up another $300 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital.
The company announced the long-anticipated round this morning, with Sequoia’s Roelof Botha joining the company’s board of directors. This is the second round of funding that Bird has raised over the span of a few months, sending it from a reported $1 billion valuation in May to a $2 billion valuation by the end of June. In March, the company had a $300 million valuation, but the Scooter hype train has officially hit a pretty impressive inflection point as investors pile on to get money into what many consider to be the next iteration of resolving transportation at an even more granular level than cars or bikes. New investors in the round include Accel, B Capital, CRV, Sound Ventures, Greycroft and e.ventures; previous investors Craft Ventures, Index Ventures, Valor, Goldcrest, Tusk Ventures and Upfront Ventures are also in the round. (So, basically everyone else who isn’t in competitor Lime.)
Warum wird so viel Geld in ein Scooter-Startup investiert?
E-Scooter als On-Demand haben sich als erstaunlich populär herausgestellt. Wer die Möglichkeit schafft, günstig und flexibel kurze Strecken zurückzulegen, hat gute Chancen viele Kunden zu gewinnen. Dieser Kundenzugang öffnet Optionen für die Zukunft...
Siehe hierzu auch Uber und Jump Bikes: E-Bikesharing, Autovermietung & ÖPNV-Tickets: Uber macht die ersten Schritte zur allumfassenden Mobility-Plattform
Reuters über Lime in Europa:
Lime, which operates bike and scooter schemes in about 60 cities and university campuses in the United States, has already launched operations in the German cities of Berlin and Frankfurt and in Zurich, Switzerland.
“Paris is our first big-scale deployment in Europe, we have big ambitions in Europe,” Lime France director Arthur-Louis Jacquier told Reuters on Thursday.
Jacquier said Lime plans to launch in 26 European cities by year-end, but declined to specify in which countries.
From Friday morning, Lime will put a few hundred scooters on Paris streets and hopes to expand that to a few thousand as demand grows.
Private-equity funded Lime started as a bicycle-sharing scheme in California, but when the firm also started offering electric scooters, demand from users was 10 times higher than for bicycles, Jacquier said.
Lime, founded in June 2017, has raised $350 million from Silicon Valley investors and plans a next financing round for several hundred millions of dollars for its U.S. and international expansion, Jacquier said.
Reuters fasst die Potenziale und Herausforderungen der Scooter-Branche gut zusammen
Scooter companies tout their product as an efficient transportation method for distances under three miles, reducing carbon emissions from cars.
However, basic issues remain unresolved, such as how cities will regulate scooters, where scooter users should ride the vehicles, helmet laws and fixing the backlog at scooter manufacturers. Approaches to regulations so far include capping the number of scooters allowed and requiring permits and fees.
Alle On-Demand-Anbieter, ob Fahrrad oder Scooter, schaffen einen Weg, die Straßen- und Luftbelastung in Städten zu senken. Es darf bezweifelt werden, dass jede Stadtverwaltung das in die künftige Regulierung einbeziehen wird.
Mehr zum Thema:
* E-Bikesharing, Autovermietung & ÖPNV-Tickets: Uber macht die ersten Schritte zur allumfassenden Mobility-Plattform
* Bike-Sharing: Was der On-Demand-Riese Meituan mit Mobike vorhat
* Mehr Formfaktoren, Teil 1: Elektroroller auf dem Vormarsch