#e-bike rental stockholm

[mimowork]

Airbag for shared e-scooters? An ultimate solution to micromobility safety?

Back this summer, the UK's Department for Transport (DfT) was fast-tracking a permit to allow electric scooter rentals on the public road. Also, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced a £2bn fund for green transport including e-scooters, in order to combat overcrowded public transport amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Based on a recent survey conducted by Spin and YouGov, nearly 50 percent of people indicated that they are already using or planning to use a solo transportation option for commuting to and from work and for taking trips within their immediate vicinity.

Competition of solo transportation is just getting started:

This latest move rolling out good news for Silicon Valley scooter firms for example Lime, Spin, also European competitors such as Voi, Bolt, Tier that have established smartphone app.

Fredrik Hjelm, co-funder and CEO of the Stockholm-based e-scooter startup Voi mentioned: "As we emerge from lockdown, people will want to avoid overcrowded public transport but we need to make sure that there are good non-polluting options available that suit all abilities and pockets. Right now we have an opportunity to reinvent urban transport and to increase our use of electric vehicles, bikes, and e-scooters. The last thing anyone wants, as communities emerge from this crisis, is for people to restore to cars to get around."

Voi has reached its first-ever monthly profit at the group level in June, two years since it launched the e-scooter service which now operates across 40 cities and 11 counties.

Opportunities are also for shared e-motorbikes. Wow!, a Lombardy-based start-up, has obtained European approval for its two e-scooters – Model 4 (L1e – motorbike) and Model 6 (L3e – motorcycle). The products are now launching in Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

It is estimated that 90,000 e-motorbikes in towns and cities across the country by the end of the year.

There are more companies eagerly eyeing the market and itching to try. Below is the market share of each shared e-scooters operators in the UK by the end of November:

Safety first:

Since the number of e-scooters is quickly growing around the world so does the need to provide safety systems for those using them. In 2019, TV presenter and YouTuber Emily Hartridge was involved in the UK's first fatal e-scooter crash when she collided with a lorry at a roundabout in Battersea, London.

Improving helmet usage is one of the ways to ensure riders' safety. Most operators have already upgraded their apps with educative content of helmet implement. Another technology is helmet detection. Before starting its ride, the user is taking a selfie, that is processed by an image recognition algorithm, to confirm if he/she is wearing a helmet or not. US operators Veo and Bird unveiled their solutions in September and November 2019 respectively. When riders confirm wearing a helmet, they can get free unlock or other rewards. But then this dallied over its implementation.

What did happen is that Autoliv completed the first crash test with a concept airbag or e-scooters.

"In the unfortunate event where a collision occurs between an e-scooter and a vehicle, the tested airbag solution will reduce the collision force to the head and other parts of the body. The ambition to develop an airbag for e-scooters underlines Autoliv´s strategy to expand beyond occupant safety for light vehicles to safety for mobility and society." says Cecilia Sunnevång, Autoliv Vice President of Research.

The tested concept airbag for e-scooters will complement the Pedestrian Protection Airbag, PPA, previously introduced by Autoliv. Whereas the airbag for e-scooters is mounted on the e-scooter, the PPA is mounted on a vehicle and deploys along the A-pillar/windshield area. This makes it the only airbag to deploy on the outside of a vehicle. Working together, the two airbags offer increased protection for drivers of e-scooters specifically in the case of a head-to-head collision with a vehicle. The following video shows the whole process of the test.

The initial development and subsequent first crash test of the airbag for e-scooters have been done. The continued work with the airbag will be conducted in close cooperation with Autoliv's partners.

As many people treating shared e-scooters as "a good last-mile option" for their commute and that rental schemes offered a way to "try before you buy". Privately-owned e-scooters are likely to be legalized in the future. Under this circumstance, safety precautions like an airbag for e-scooters will be put a higher priority by solo vehicle companies. Airbag helmet, airbag jacket for the motorcycle rider is no longer a piece of news. Airbag now is not made just for four-wheel vehicles, it will be widely applied to every size of vehicles.

Competitions will not only be in solo vehicles but also in the airbag industry. Many airbag manufacturers took this opportunity to upgrade their means of production by introducing laser cutting technology to their factories. Laser cutting is widely recognized as the best processing method for airbag for it meets all the needs:

This battle is getting fierce. Mimowork is ready to fight with you!

Who are we:

Mimowork is a results-oriented corporation bringing 20-year deep operational expertise to offer laser processing and production solutions to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in and around clothing, auto, ad space.

Our rich experience of laser solutions deeply rooted in the advertisement, automotive & aviation, fashion & apparel, digital printing, and filter cloth industry allows us to accelerate your business from strategy to day-to-day execution.

We believe that expertise with fast-changing, emerging technologies at the crossroads of manufacture, innovation, technology, and commerce are a differentiator. Please contact us: Linkedin homepage and Facebook homepage or info@mimowork.com

Dig deeper:

Innovation and Application of Airbags

Airbag Modern Processing

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/voi-raises-another-85m-for-its-european-e-scooter-service/

Voi raises another $85M for its European e-scooter service

Voi Technology, the “micro-mobility” startup that operates an e-scooter service in a 38 cities across 10 European countries, has raised an $85 million in Series B funding.

Backing the round is a mixture of existing and new investors. They include Balderton Capital, Creandum, Project A, JME Ventures, Raine Ventures, Kreos Capital, Inbox Capital, Rider Global, and Black Ice Capital. The new funding brings the total raised by Voi to $136 million.

Eagled-eyed readers will have noticed that, based on our previous Voi coverage, the total figure is $32 million short. That’s because not all of Voi’s previous Series A commitment was cashed in after the company was offered more favourable terms for its $30 million Series A extension and therefore elected not to draw down the second tranche of its original Series A.

Launched in 2018, the company is best-known for its e-scooter rentals but now pitches itself as a micro-mobility provider, offering a number of different transport devices. These include various e-scooter and e-bike models, in a bid to become a broader transport operator helping to re-shape urban transport and wean people off using cars.

To date, Voi says it has 4 million registered users and has powered 14 million rides. More recently it has launched new, more robust hardware that has been designed to sustain the rigours of commercial e-bike sharing. The idea is that more suitable hardware will help e-scooter companies improve margins since more rides can be extracted from the life-span of each vehicle.

On that note, Voi says it will use the new funding to develop “strong profitable businesses” in the 38 cities where it is already operating, as well as increase its R&D spend to improve its technology platform and products. Earlier this year, the company announced that it is already profitable in the cities of Stockholm and Oslo.

“Clearly, we feel we are on track to achieve this in more of our cities and that is our aim,” Voi co-founder and CEO Fredrik Hjelm tells me. “At this point, a key focus for us is to ensure we continue to increase the lifetime of our e-scooters, forge key partnerships and continue to work in those cities which provide the best conditions for a profitable e-scooter business”.

Hjelm says that Voi’s version 2 scooters are projected to last over 18 months, which means the company should be in profit before it needs to raise again. However, he wouldn’t be drawn on when that might be.

With regards to R&D and improvements to the Voi platform, the company will continue to work on the lifetime of its e-scooters, in addition to improved repair management via integrating “predictive diagnostics”.

Hjelm also says Voi is developing “AI-powered” fleet management and more generally the platform’s capability to support future product portfolio expansion. In other words, we can expect new micro-mobility device categories in the future.

[sandlerresearch]

Mobility as a Service Market by Service (Ride Hailing, Car Sharing, Micro Mobility, Bus Sharing, Train), Solution, Application, Transportation, Vehicle Type, Operating System, Business Model and Region - Global Forecast to 2030 published on

https://www.sandlerresearch.org/mobility-as-a-service-market-by-service-ride-hailing-car-sharing-micro-mobility-bus-sharing-train-solution-application-transportation-vehicle-type-operating-system-business-model-and-regio.html

Mobility as a Service Market by Service (Ride Hailing, Car Sharing, Micro Mobility, Bus Sharing, Train), Solution, Application, Transportation, Vehicle Type, Operating System, Business Model and Region - Global Forecast to 2030

“Increasing urbanization and smart city initiatives is the significant factor for growth of the mobility as a service market globally”

The global mobility as a service market is projected to reach USD 70.4 billion by 2030, from an estimated USD 4.7 billion in 2020, at a CAGR of 31.1%. With 12 cities in the region ranking among the top 25 in the world, Europe continues to be the best positioned geographical area for smart cities.

According to the European Commission, the smart cities project market is expected to exceed USD 2.00 trillion by 2025, with Europe speculated to have the highest investment globally. Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, Vienna, Paris, Barcelona, Stockholm, Berlin, and Helsinki have already initiated the development of smart city platforms. Besides, smart city initiatives, other factors driving the MaaS market include improving 4G/5G infrastructure and penetration of smartphones and need for reduced CO2 emissions. However, integration of various MaaS stakeholders and limited internet connectivity in developing countries will restrict the mobility as a service market in the coming years.

“Peer-to-Peer segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR as people could use peer-to-peer services to rent out their vehicles when not in use in the future, which presents opportunities for growth”

In a peer-to-peer (P2P) ride-sharing service, drivers use their own vehicles to provide a service to registered users via an app. Another model is peer-to-peer rentals where an owner rents out their vehicle. Various modes of transport can be integrated into one digital mobile app that covers the process from start to finish, including booking, trip planning, and electronic payment. For instance, Uber, a peer-to-peer transportation provider, is branching out into short-term car rental and public transit ticket purchasing. Similarly, Turo, a peer-to-peer rental company, enables private owners to rent out their cars to others. The company recently partnered with Porsche to launch a pilot program in San Francisco and Los Angeles that allows drivers to rent sports cars for around USD 100/day.

“Journey planning segment is expected to hold a dominant share throughout the forecast period as the user is able to select the preferred mode of transportation”

Journey planning involves providing journey options to users through a combination of real-time, predictive, and scheduled data based on a data algorithm. Journey planning includes providing a list of service offerings and combines the optimal use of transport modes based on user preferences and transport infrastructure. Thus, the user is also granted some level of personalization in terms of preference for transport mode and accessibility.

“Technology platform segment is expected to be the largest market from 2020 to 2030”

The technology platform segment is likely to command the largest market share through the forecast period from2020 to 2030 as it provides integrated services for ride hailing, car sharing, micromobility, bus sharing, and train services. In July 2020, Google announced a digitization fund of USD 10 billion to boost India’s digital economy. Google plans to enable affordable internet access for every Indian as the country has the second-highest number of internet users in the world. Such initiatives are expected to create immense opportunities for high-growth niche markets like mobility as a service market.

“The Asia Oceania market is expected to hold the largest market share by 2030 while Rest of the World is projected to register the fastest growth during the forecast period”

Asia Oceania mobility as a service market is projected to hold the largest market share by 2030 because of increasing adoption of MaaS in China, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar. The region has started creating a sustainable ecosystem for MaaS. 5G deployment is gaining pace in developing economies to boost smart mobility. For instance, in July 2020, Reliance Industries Limited announced that Reliance Jio has designed and developed a complete 5G solution for India.It said it will be ready for trials as soon as the 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment in 2021.Hence, the region is expected to hold a lion’s share in the global MaaS market.

Rest of the World mobility as a service market is estimated to be the fastest growing region during the forecast period. Some of the Latin American countries such as Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Peru, and Mexico are expected to drive the market in the next decade. Presence of several mobility companies and their partnerships in the region has created huge opportunities for MaaS. Grin, an e-scooter company has partnered with Rappi to cater to Columbian market. It also merged with Yellow, a bike-sharing start-up in Brazil, to cater to Latin America market.

In-depth interviews were conducted with CEOs, marketing directors, other innovation and technology directors, and executives from various key organizations operating in this market.

By Company Type: Tier I – 60%, Tier II – 30%, and Others- 10%

By Designation: C Level – 30%, D Level – 30%, and Others – 40%

By Region: Europe – 40%, Asia Oceania – 40%, North America – 10%, and Rest of the World – 10%

The mobility as a service market comprises prominent players such as Moovit Inc.(Israel), MaaS Global Oy(Finland), Citymapper(UK), Mobilleo(UK), SkedGo Pty Ltd(Australia).

Research Coverage:

The study segments the mobility as a service market and forecasts the market size based on service type (Ride Hailing, Car Sharing, Micromobility, Bus Sharing, Train Services), solution type (Technology Platforms, Payment Engines, Navigation Solutions, Telecom Connectivity Providers, Ticketing Solutions, Insurance Services), transportation type (public and private), vehicle type (Micromobility, Four-wheelers, Buses, Trains), application type (Personalized Application Services, Journey Management, Journey Planning, Flexible Payments & Transactions), operating system (Android, iOS, Others), business model (Business-to-Business, Business-to-Consumer, Peer-to-Peer), and region (North America, Europe, Asia Oceania, and Rest of the World).

The study also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market, along with their company profiles, key observations related to product and business offerings, recent developments, and key market strategies.

Key Benefits of Buying the Report:

The report will help the market leaders/new entrants in this market with the information on the closest approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall mobility as a service market and the sub-segments. This report will help stakeholders understand the competitive landscape and gain more insights to better position their businesses and plan suitable go-to-market strategies. The report also helps stakeholders understand the pulse of the market and provides them information on key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.

[themakersmovement]

VOI Technology, the e-scooter startup from Sweden, raises $50M led by Balderton Capital VOI Technology, an e-scooter startup headquartered in Sweden but with pan-European ambitions, has raised $50 million in Series A funding, confirming our earlier scoop. As I previously reported, London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital has led the round, alongside LocalGlobe, Raine Ventures, and previous VOI backer Vostok New Ventures. A number of angel investors also participated. They include Cristina Stenbeck, Jeff Wilkes (Amazon), Justin Mateen (co-founder of Tinder), Nicolas Brusson (CEO and co-founder of BlaBlaCar), Sebastian Knutsson (co-founder of King), Spencer Rascoff (CEO of Zillow), and Keith Richman. A source with knowledge of VOI’s early fundraising tells me this is in actual fact two rounds effectively being announced at the same time, although both VOI and Balderton say this is not the case. The e-scooter startup had previously raised around $3 million earlier this year. What I do know, however, is the size of this new round got increased significantly very late on as VOI continues to gain early traction and the round became more competitive with a lot of VC interest. According to my sources, the initial target was $15 million at a pre-money valuation of between $35-40 million. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to confirm the new valuation based on this much larger fundraise. Both VOI and Balderton declined to comment. 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. Like other e-scooter startups, VOI pitches itself as a way to ease traffic-clogged city centres and reduce pollution, with VOI’s scooters offering a “clean, efficient, cost-effective and zero emission” first-and-last-mile alternative to cars and taxis. After downloading the VOI app, you simply locate a nearby scooter on the street or via the app’s map, press the ‘ride’ button, scan the VOI QR code, and ride anywhere in the city. The company charges a €1 unlocking fee and a ride costs €0.15 per minute. In just 12 weeks, VOI claims to have garnered 120,000 users, who have taken 200,000 rides, travelling 350,000 kilometres. It says this makes VOI Europe’s leading e-scooter sharing company. “We see that we’ve changed user behaviour drastically in a very short time period,” VOI CEO Fredrik Hjelm tells me. “We changed how people commute, people move themselves. We changed how people transport within cities almost instantly after they try the scooters for the first time”. He says this has resulted in “very strong retention rates, recurring use, and also friend referrals”. “I’m from up in the North in Sweden, and for me it’s very difficult to understand, and it’s absurd, why we have so many cars and why our cities are built for cars, taxes and trucks, and not for people, animals, scooters, bikes, and light electric vehicles,” explains Hjelm. “That’s more from an ideological perspective. For me, scooters power freedom”. VOI is also talking up its “distinctive” European approach in the way the company works collaboratively with city authorities. This is very different to the ‘ask for forgiveness not permission’ mentality of Silicon Valley. “When you are reading the news, you get the feeling that city politicians are against scooters. The reality is the other way around,” 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”. Balderton’s entrance into the e-scooter market comes after three of the other “big four” London VC firms have already made U.S. investments in the space. Index and Accel have backed Bird, and Atomico has backed Lime. Last month also saw Berlin’s Tier raise €25 million in Series A funding led by Northzone, in another attempt to create the “Bird or Lime of Europe,” even if it is far from clear that Bird or Lime won’t take that title for themselves (which is obviously the bet being made by Index, Accel and Atomico). And two month’s ago Taxify also announced its intention to do e-scooter rentals under the brand Bolt, first launched in Paris but also planning to be pan-European. This has led some VCs to describe the e-scooter space in Europe as a venture capital “blood bath” waiting to happen. The thinking is that the market has become so competitive so early, a l…

VOI Technology, the e-scooter startup from Sweden, raises $50M led by Balderton Capital – TechCrunch

[theinvinciblenoob]

VOI Technology, an e-scooter startup headquartered in Sweden but with pan-European ambitions, has raised $50 million in Series A funding, confirming our earlier scoop. As I previously reported, London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital has led the round, alongside LocalGlobe, Raine Ventures, and previous VOI backer Vostok New Ventures.

A number of angel investors also participated. They include Cristina Stenbeck, Jeff Wilkes (Amazon), Justin Mateen (co-founder of Tinder), Nicolas Brusson (CEO and co-founder of BlaBlaCar), Sebastian Knutsson (co-founder of King), Spencer Rascoff (CEO of Zillow), and Keith Richman.

A source with knowledge of VOI’s early fundraising tells me this is in actual fact two rounds effectively being announced at the same time, although both VOI and Balderton say this is not the case. The e-scooter startup had previously raised around $3 million earlier this year.

What I do know, however, is the size of this new round got increased significantly very late on as VOI continues to gain early traction and the round became more competitive with a lot of VC interest. According to my sources, the initial target was $15 million at a pre-money valuation of between $35-40 million. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to confirm the new valuation based on this much larger fundraise. Both VOI and Balderton declined to comment.

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.

Like other e-scooter startups, VOI pitches itself as a way to ease traffic-clogged city centres and reduce pollution, with VOI’s scooters offering a “clean, efficient, cost-effective and zero emission” first-and-last-mile alternative to cars and taxis. After downloading the VOI app, you simply locate a nearby scooter on the street or via the app’s map, press the ‘ride’ button, scan the VOI QR code, and ride anywhere in the city. The company charges a €1 unlocking fee and a ride costs €0.15 per minute.

In just 12 weeks, VOI claims to have garnered 120,000 users, who have taken 200,000 rides, travelling 350,000 kilometres. It says this makes VOI Europe’s leading e-scooter sharing company.

“We see that we’ve changed user behaviour drastically in a very short time period,” VOI CEO Fredrik Hjelm tells me. “We changed how people commute, people move themselves. We changed how people transport within cities almost instantly after they try the scooters for the first time”.

He says this has resulted in “very strong retention rates, recurring use, and also friend referrals”.

“I’m from up in the North in Sweden, and for me it’s very difficult to understand, and it’s absurd, why we have so many cars and why our cities are built for cars, taxes and trucks, and not for people, animals, scooters, bikes, and light electric vehicles,” explains Hjelm. “That’s more from an ideological perspective. For me, scooters power freedom”.

VOI is also talking up its “distinctive” European approach in the way the company works collaboratively with city authorities. This is very different to the ‘ask for forgiveness not permission’ mentality of Silicon Valley.

“When you are reading the news, you get the feeling that city politicians are against scooters. The reality is the other way around,” 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”.

Balderton’s entrance into the e-scooter market comes after three of the other “big four” London VC firms have already made U.S. investments in the space. Index and Accel have backed Bird, and Atomico has backed Lime.

Last month also saw Berlin’s Tier raise €25 million in Series A funding led by Northzone, in another attempt to create the “Bird or Lime of Europe,” even if it is far from clear that Bird or Lime won’t take that title for themselves (which is obviously the bet being made by Index, Accel and Atomico). And two month’s ago Taxify also announced its intention to do e-scooter rentals under the brand Bolt, first launched in Paris but also planning to be pan-European.

This has led some VCs to describe the e-scooter space in Europe as a venture capital “blood bath” waiting to happen. The thinking is that the market has become so competitive so early, a lot of VC dollars are going to be spent (and potentially wasted) before it is far from clear who will be the eventual winner. That feels quite unusual for Europe, where it is more common for competing VCs to back off or co-invest once one or two of the big firms (or Rocket Internet) have made their move or when there is a better-funded U.S. competitor on the horizon — a point I put to Balderton Partner Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen.

“Yeah, and I think if we kept doing that as a VC community, we would never see any billion dollar companies coming out of Europe,” he replies. “This is why we’re backing VOI. [But] I get your point: it’s up against large amounts of capital”.

Describing e-scooters as a massive opportunity to change that, Fjeldsoe-Nielsen says that in the last four weeks VOI has doubled it revenues and that Balderton is seeing the same kind of traction and market reaction as Bird and Lime in the U.S.

“We believe an equally big company can come out of Europe,” he adds.

via TechCrunch

[vespastockholm-blog]

Vespa Stockholm has the best tours in Stockholm, rent your e-bike or scooter and discover independently with our GPS Tours. We are much more than a normal Scooter and E-bike rental. Enjoy your Vespa and truly discover Stockholm, Stockholm tours by locals! For more details log on to our website https://www.vespastockholm.com/.

[vespastockholm-blog]

If You Want To Enjoy Stockholm By Bits, Choose Bike Tour

Do you know that Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden, has 760 km extensive bike lane that covers almost every prominent place in the city. That is the reason why, it is one of the most preferred ways to get face to face to the city's charm and natural panorama. The bike tours Stockholm is a treasure to see and enjoy the beautiful landscape, island and hear the tales of ancient glory and tradition. The travelers that come to the city has a great opportunity to experience, observe and taste the art, architecture, culture and discover many more things on the luxury of the bike ride.

Fulfill the objective of your journey

It goes without saying that the ultimate purpose of traveling to any part of the world is to find out what you do not know about that city or country. And there are two ways of finding out the hidden pleasure of knowing the city's charm and its tradition. The first one is to let your travel guide do everything for you and you enjoy your journey as a passive traveler. The other one is to participate actively and individually to explore what is hidden in the land. When you tour Stockholm on the bike, it like discovering the new place of your own. Feel the bliss and gift of the Almighty that has been rendered to the capital city of Sweden. That is why many preferred to tour the city on bike and get that arrangement done, as there is a great convenience of availability of bike on rent in Stockholm.  

Why should you choose to discover Stockholm on the bike?

If the idea of traveling to this part of the world is to relish the taste of Stockholm natural beauty that has a great mix of culture, tradition, history and modernity, sip by sip, the bike tour is the most suitable option. As it is already mentioned that the city is massively built around the bike lanes that has extensive reach for the bike riders in Stockholm, you have hardly any excuse to find out another ways to reach to the different corners of the city. The bike is easily available in the city at various places. All you need to have a valid license and you can have the one to enjoy the ride and explore the new places in the city. By embracing bike tours Stockholm, undoubtedly you would be able to see and explore much more in a short amount of time and relish the city like any other residents do.

Find the glimpse of everything on the bike

By riding the city on a bike you would see both the residential as well as commercial areas of the city. At the same time you can take your own time to relax and enjoy the views of architecture and historical buildings that is the iconic structure around the city. You can also pass by locals and halt for a fika, one of the most Swedish things you can do in Stockholm.

[un-enfant-immature]

Voi raises another $85M for its European e-scooter service

Voi Technology, the “micro-mobility” startup that operates an e-scooter service in a 38 cities across 10 European countries, has raised an $85 million in Series B funding.

Backing the round is a mixture of existing and new investors. They include Balderton Capital, Creandum, Project A, JME Ventures, Raine Ventures, Kreos Capital, Inbox Capital, Rider Global, and Black Ice Capital. The new funding brings the total raised by Voi to $136 million.

Eagled-eyed readers will have noticed that, based on our previous Voi coverage, the total figure is $32 million short. That’s because not all of Voi’s previous Series A commitment was cashed in after the company was offered more favourable terms for its $30 million Series A extension and therefore elected not to draw down the second tranche of its original Series A.

Launched in 2018, the company is best-known for its e-scooter rentals but now pitches itself as a micro-mobility provider, offering a number of different transport devices. These include various e-scooter and e-bike models, in a bid to become a broader transport operator helping to re-shape urban transport and wean people off using cars.

To date, Voi says it has 4 million registered users and has powered 14 million rides. More recently it has launched new, more robust hardware that has been designed to sustain the rigours of commercial e-bike sharing. The idea is that more suitable hardware will help e-scooter companies improve margins since more rides can be extracted from the life-span of each vehicle.

On that note, Voi says it will use the new funding to develop “strong profitable businesses” in the 38 cities where it is already operating, as well as increase its R&D spend to improve its technology platform and products. Earlier this year, the company announced that it is already profitable in the cities of Stockholm and Oslo.

“Clearly, we feel we are on track to achieve this in more of our cities and that is our aim,” Voi co-founder and CEO Fredrik Hjelm tells me. “At this point, a key focus for us is to ensure we continue to increase the lifetime of our e-scooters, forge key partnerships and continue to work in those cities which provide the best conditions for a profitable e-scooter business”.

Hjelm says that Voi’s version 2 scooters are projected to last over 18 months, which means the company should be in profit before it needs to raise again. However, he wouldn’t be drawn on when that might be.

With regards to R&D and improvements to the Voi platform, the company will continue to work on the lifetime of its e-scooters, in addition to improved repair management via integrating “predictive diagnostics”.

Hjelm also says Voi is developing “AI-powered” fleet management and more generally the platform’s capability to support future product portfolio expansion. In other words, we can expect new micro-mobility device categories in the future.

[un-enfant-immature]

Voi unveils ‘longer-lasting’ e-scooters designed to withstand rentals, and launches its first e-bikes

Voi Technology, the “micro-mobility” startup that operates an e-scooter service on the streets of a growing number of European cities, has unveiled a range of new scooters and a first e-bike more suited to rentals.

The company is also revealing plans to expand to another 150 cities and towns, having ratcheted up 2 million rides in eight months since launching. Voi currently operates in 18 cities in nine European countries — including Stockholm, Madrid, Copenhagen, Paris, Lyon and Lisbon — and with will open up in Germany, Belgium, Poland and Italy this summer.

In a call, Voi CEO and co-founder Fredrik Hjelm told me the new hardware rollouts are part of the Swedish company’s plans to become a broader micro-mobility play with a range of travel options that meet the demands of people living in urban areas and the sustainability concerns of city and town authorities. The new e-scooters have been designed and engineered in-house using data collected and other learnings from riders during Voi’s relatively short lifespan.

Voi’s main new model, dubbed “Voiager 2,” is said to be designed for maximum durability as well as future recycling (should and when it full apart or be superseded). The body is cast in one single piece of 5mm high-grade aluminium, coupled with performance enhancements thanks to a custom electric powertrain and 10″ wheels. There’s also a kickstand to prevent the e-scooter from falling over when parked (a common sight in some cities) and a three-wheel version particularly suitable for slippery conditions.

The Voiager 2’s display features “Advanced Rider Assistance System (ARAS) functions,” such as navigation support, alerts and notifications. The idea, explained Hjelm, is to avoid riders having to juggle looking at their mobile phone or to continuously stop to navigate. The Internet of Things (IoT) Telematics unit is integrated into the body of the scooter.

Hjelm says the Voiager 2 is Voi’s first scooter based on the Voi modular scooter architecture (VOI MSA), which allows for easy service, repair and upgrades. There’s also a swappable battery to reduce scooter downtime, as well as reduce the environmental impact and cost of charging scooters.

Overall, the design is not just intended to improve the e-scooter experience for consumers and city authorities but should go someway to addressing concerns around the questionable unit economics of micro-mobility services.

See also: Voi Technology, the European e-scooter rentals startup, raises an additional $30M

In a bid to launch at speed and test the market, companies have used off-the-shelf consumer-grade e-scooters that aren’t durable enough to withstand the battering they receive through shared commercial use and being left outside in varied weather conditions. They’re also not designed with rental logistics in mind and even something as simple as a hot swappable battery can reduce the cost of running an e-scooter service since more scooters remain in motion, potentially increasing revenue per scooter. There’s also a reduction in the cost of collecting dead batteries for re-charging as they are de-coupled from the scooter itself.

Voi Cargo

A second model, the new “Voiager 1” has been designed for the German market. This month the German government will green light e-scooters for use on its roads. Hjelm thinks Germany will quickly become one of the world’s biggest e-scooter markets and its new rugged scooter features brakes and indicator lights that meet strict German regulations, which the Voi CEO believes are likely to be adopted elsewhere.

Voi is also unveiling the Voi Bike and Voi Cargo. The former is an e-bike that has been adapted for sharing and meets European e-bike regulations. It can travel at 25km/h fully assisted and is suitable for longer distances than e-scooters. Voi Cargo is a three-wheel electric cargo bike that caters specifically to riders who have to carry bulky loads, such as groceries or children. The bike has a large box on the front which features three-point seatbelts.

Meanwhile, Voi isn’t the only European e-scooter startup developing its own hardware. Flash — the stealthy mobility startup from Delivery Hero and Team Europe founder Lukasz Gadowski has talked up its own hardware product plans, while Berlin’s Wind Mobility is also developing a proprietary model of electric scooters specifically designed for the sharing market.

Other competitors in Europe include Tier and Taxify’s Bolt. Silicon Valley’s Bird and Lime also operate in Europe.

[endenogatai]

Voi raises another $85M for its European e-scooter service

Voi Technology, the “micro-mobility” startup that operates an e-scooter service in a 38 cities across 10 European countries, has raised an $85 million in Series B funding.

Backing the round is a mixture of existing and new investors. They include Balderton Capital, Creandum, Project A, JME Ventures, Raine Ventures, Kreos Capital, Inbox Capital, Rider Global, and Black Ice Capital. The new funding brings the total raised by Voi to $136 million.

Eagled-eyed readers will have noticed that, based on our previous Voi coverage, the total figure is $32 million short. That’s because not all of Voi’s previous Series A commitment was cashed in after the company was offered more favourable terms for its $30 million Series A extension and therefore elected not to draw down the second tranche of its original Series A.

Launched in 2018, the company is best-known for its e-scooter rentals but now pitches itself as a micro-mobility provider, offering a number of different transport devices. These include various e-scooter and e-bike models, in a bid to become a broader transport operator helping to re-shape urban transport and wean people off using cars.

To date, Voi says it has 4 million registered users and has powered 14 million rides. More recently it has launched new, more robust hardware that has been designed to sustain the rigours of commercial e-bike sharing. The idea is that more suitable hardware will help e-scooter companies improve margins since more rides can be extracted from the life-span of each vehicle.

On that note, Voi says it will use the new funding to develop “strong profitable businesses” in the 38 cities where it is already operating, as well as increase its R&D spend to improve its technology platform and products. Earlier this year, the company announced that it is already profitable in the cities of Stockholm and Oslo.

“Clearly, we feel we are on track to achieve this in more of our cities and that is our aim,” Voi co-founder and CEO Fredrik Hjelm tells me. “At this point, a key focus for us is to ensure we continue to increase the lifetime of our e-scooters, forge key partnerships and continue to work in those cities which provide the best conditions for a profitable e-scooter business”.

Hjelm says that Voi’s version 2 scooters are projected to last over 18 months, which means the company should be in profit before it needs to raise again. However, he wouldn’t be drawn on when that might be.

With regards to R&D and improvements to the Voi platform, the company will continue to work on the lifetime of its e-scooters, in addition to improved repair management via integrating “predictive diagnostics”.

Hjelm also says Voi is developing “AI-powered” fleet management and more generally the platform’s capability to support future product portfolio expansion. In other words, we can expect new micro-mobility device categories in the future.

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[endenogatai]

Voi unveils ‘longer-lasting’ e-scooters designed to withstand rentals, and launches its first e-bikes

Voi Technology, the “micro-mobility” startup that operates an e-scooter service on the streets of a growing number of European cities, has unveiled a range of new scooters and a first e-bike more suited to rentals.

The company is also revealing plans to expand to another 150 cities and towns, having ratcheted up 2 million rides in eight months since launching. Voi currently operates in 18 cities in nine European countries — including Stockholm, Madrid, Copenhagen, Paris, Lyon and Lisbon — and with will open up in Germany, Belgium, Poland and Italy this summer.

In a call, Voi CEO and co-founder Fredrik Hjelm told me the new hardware rollouts are part of the Swedish company’s plans to become a broader micro-mobility play with a range of travel options that meet the demands of people living in urban areas and the sustainability concerns of city and town authorities. The new e-scooters have been designed and engineered in-house using data collected and other learnings from riders during Voi’s relatively short lifespan.

Voi’s main new model, dubbed “Voiager 2,” is said to be designed for maximum durability as well as future recycling (should and when it full apart or be superseded). The body is cast in one single piece of 5mm high-grade aluminium, coupled with performance enhancements thanks to a custom electric powertrain and 10″ wheels. There’s also a kickstand to prevent the e-scooter from falling over when parked (a common sight in some cities) and a three-wheel version particularly suitable for slippery conditions.

The Voiager 2’s display features “Advanced Rider Assistance System (ARAS) functions,” such as navigation support, alerts and notifications. The idea, explained Hjelm, is to avoid riders having to juggle looking at their mobile phone or to continuously stop to navigate. The Internet of Things (IoT) Telematics unit is integrated into the body of the scooter.

Hjelm says the Voiager 2 is Voi’s first scooter based on the Voi modular scooter architecture (VOI MSA), which allows for easy service, repair and upgrades. There’s also a swappable battery to reduce scooter downtime, as well as reduce the environmental impact and cost of charging scooters.

Overall, the design is not just intended to improve the e-scooter experience for consumers and city authorities but should go someway to addressing concerns around the questionable unit economics of micro-mobility services.

See also: Voi Technology, the European e-scooter rentals startup, raises an additional $30M

In a bid to launch at speed and test the market, companies have used off-the-shelf consumer-grade e-scooters that aren’t durable enough to withstand the battering they receive through shared commercial use and being left outside in varied weather conditions. They’re also not designed with rental logistics in mind and even something as simple as a hot swappable battery can reduce the cost of running an e-scooter service since more scooters remain in motion, potentially increasing revenue per scooter. There’s also a reduction in the cost of collecting dead batteries for re-charging as they are de-coupled from the scooter itself.

Voi Cargo

A second model, the new “Voiager 1” has been designed for the German market. This month the German government will green light e-scooters for use on its roads. Hjelm thinks Germany will quickly become one of the world’s biggest e-scooter markets and its new rugged scooter features brakes and indicator lights that meet strict German regulations, which the Voi CEO believes are likely to be adopted elsewhere.

Voi is also unveiling the Voi Bike and Voi Cargo. The former is an e-bike that has been adapted for sharing and meets European e-bike regulations. It can travel at 25km/h fully assisted and is suitable for longer distances than e-scooters. Voi Cargo is a three-wheel electric cargo bike that caters specifically to riders who have to carry bulky loads, such as groceries or children. The bike has a large box on the front which features three-point seatbelts.

Meanwhile, Voi isn’t the only European e-scooter startup developing its own hardware. Flash — the stealthy mobility startup from Delivery Hero and Team Europe founder Lukasz Gadowski has talked up its own hardware product plans, while Berlin’s Wind Mobility is also developing a proprietary model of electric scooters specifically designed for the sharing market.

Other competitors in Europe include Tier and Taxify’s Bolt. Silicon Valley’s Bird and Lime also operate in Europe.

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[endenogatai]

VOI Technology, the e-scooter startup from Sweden, raises $50M led by Balderton Capital

VOI Technology, an e-scooter startup headquartered in Sweden but with pan-European ambitions, has raised $50 million in Series A funding, confirming our earlier scoop. As I previously reported, London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital has led the round, alongside LocalGlobe, Raine Ventures, and previous VOI backer Vostok New Ventures.

A number of angel investors also participated. They include Cristina Stenbeck, Jeff Wilkes (Amazon), Justin Mateen (co-founder of Tinder), Nicolas Brusson (CEO and co-founder of BlaBlaCar), Sebastian Knutsson (co-founder of King), Spencer Rascoff (CEO of Zillow), and Keith Richman.

A source with knowledge of VOI’s early fundraising tells me this is in actual fact two rounds effectively being announced at the same time, although both VOI and Balderton say this is not the case. The e-scooter startup had previously raised around $3 million earlier this year.

What I do know, however, is the size of this new round got increased significantly very late on as VOI continues to gain early traction and the round became more competitive with a lot of VC interest. According to my sources, the initial target was $15 million at a pre-money valuation of between $35-40 million. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to confirm the new valuation based on this much larger fundraise. Both VOI and Balderton declined to comment.

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.

Like other e-scooter startups, VOI pitches itself as a way to ease traffic-clogged city centres and reduce pollution, with VOI’s scooters offering a “clean, efficient, cost-effective and zero emission” first-and-last-mile alternative to cars and taxis. After downloading the VOI app, you simply locate a nearby scooter on the street or via the app’s map, press the ‘ride’ button, scan the VOI QR code, and ride anywhere in the city. The company charges a €1 unlocking fee and a ride costs €0.15 per minute.

In just 12 weeks, VOI claims to have garnered 120,000 users, who have taken 200,000 rides, travelling 350,000 kilometres. It says this makes VOI Europe’s leading e-scooter sharing company.

“We see that we’ve changed user behaviour drastically in a very short time period,” VOI CEO Fredrik Hjelm tells me. “We changed how people commute, people move themselves. We changed how people transport within cities almost instantly after they try the scooters for the first time”.

He says this has resulted in “very strong retention rates, recurring use, and also friend referrals”.

“I’m from up in the North in Sweden, and for me it’s very difficult to understand, and it’s absurd, why we have so many cars and why our cities are built for cars, taxes and trucks, and not for people, animals, scooters, bikes, and light electric vehicles,” explains Hjelm. “That’s more from an ideological perspective. For me, scooters power freedom”.

VOI is also talking up its “distinctive” European approach in the way the company works collaboratively with city authorities. This is very different to the ‘ask for forgiveness not permission’ mentality of Silicon Valley.

“When you are reading the news, you get the feeling that city politicians are against scooters. The reality is the other way around,” 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”.

Balderton’s entrance into the e-scooter market comes after three of the other “big four” London VC firms have already made U.S. investments in the space. Index and Accel have backed Bird, and Atomico has backed Lime.

Last month also saw Berlin’s Tier raise €25 million in Series A funding led by Northzone, in another attempt to create the “Bird or Lime of Europe,” even if it is far from clear that Bird or Lime won’t take that title for themselves (which is obviously the bet being made by Index, Accel and Atomico). And two month’s ago Taxify also announced its intention to do e-scooter rentals under the brand Bolt, first launched in Paris but also planning to be pan-European.

This has led some VCs to describe the e-scooter space in Europe as a venture capital “blood bath” waiting to happen. The thinking is that the market has become so competitive so early, a lot of VC dollars are going to be spent (and potentially wasted) before it is far from clear who will be the eventual winner. That feels quite unusual for Europe, where it is more common for competing VCs to back off or co-invest once one or two of the big firms (or Rocket Internet) have made their move or when there is a better-funded U.S. competitor on the horizon — a point I put to Balderton Partner Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen.

“Yeah, and I think if we kept doing that as a VC community, we would never see any billion dollar companies coming out of Europe,” he replies. “This is why we’re backing VOI. [But] I get your point: it’s up against large amounts of capital”.

Describing e-scooters as a massive opportunity to change that, Fjeldsoe-Nielsen says that in the last four weeks VOI has doubled it revenues and that Balderton is seeing the same kind of traction and market reaction as Bird and Lime in the U.S.

“We believe an equally big company can come out of Europe,” he adds.

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