🐤 Bird Scoops $150M

Plus, Gogoro arrives in China, Lime posts EBITDA-adjusted profitable quarter, and US e-bike sales nearly double since 2019.

October 19, 2021

Welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter…

What You Need to Know This Week

  • Bird announced it will raise $150M, up from $40M, in vehicle financing from Apollo Investment Corp ahead of its SPAC deal.

  • One industry tracker expects American e-bike sale volumes to reach 550,000 units this year, up from 437,000 in 2020 and 288,000 in 2019. That’s nearly 200% growth in two years, brought on by the heightened demand for micromobility solutions caused by the pandemic.

  • The mythology of ride-sharing is falling apart.

  • Gogoro’s hot-swappable battery infrastructure has arrived in China. The Taiwan company’s technology, which is currently compatible with two local moped brands, Yadea and DJC, launched in Hangzhou this week, opening the door to further expansion in the world’s largest two-wheeler market.

Gogoro battery-swapping expansion to China

  • Related: From route optimization to cargo bikes, here’s how European startups are decarbonizing last-mile delivery.

  • How public “e-bike libraries” are expanding access to micromobility.

  • A new study from Chicago shows dockless scooters compete with bike-sharing for riders. “The weekly usage of bike sharing in e-scooter sharing operation area declined by 10.2% due to the impact.”

  • ICYMI: Last week we published a new speech of our co-founder Horace Dediu’s latest insights on micromobility, fittingly titled “The 10 Micromobility Commandments” (video here). So far, the response has been very positive, and we recommend checking it out if you haven’t already. Here’s what Azeem Azhar of the Exponential View newsletter had to say: “Grab a pen and paper because Dediu delivers a tour de force of insights that is well worth half an hour of your time.”

  • Brompton CEO estimates it will take another 18 months for the bicycle manufacturing industry to sort out the global parts shortage.

  • Honda plans to sell EV mopeds in India within the next year.

  • Populus is starting the second phase of a USDOT-funded project to leverage data from over 80M micromobility trips to help more than 15 cities design safer streets.

  • The Australian military is testing 50-mph electric bikes for scouting missions.

Jobs to Be Done

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