🥡 Zoomo Picks Up $20M

Plus, Paris and Brussels make car-free advances, why China never gave up on public transit, and Seattle drops bike-helmet mandate.

February 22, 2022

Welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, an email missive about how small electric vehicles—scooters, ebikes, and such—are changing the way people and packages get where they need to go. (Other modes of urban transport—buses, bicycles, trains, ridehail—are cool too.) Each week we curate the best news and analysis for curious minds in mobility. Enjoy 🤗

What You Need to Know This Week

  • Zoomo, an Australian startup that provides ebikes to delivery companies and workers, has raised $20M as an extension to its recent $60M Series B round. (Listen: Zoomo’s Mina Nada explains how ebikes are helping last-mile logistics providers fulfill the promise of ultrafast deliveries.)

  • Why developing countries are well-positioned to create the next generation of transport systems: “Walking, public transport and cycling are already ingrained into the cultural fabric of many fast-growing, developing-world cities. The question is how to ensure these habits persist, even if private cars become affordable and feasible.”

  • US per capita road deaths surged 17.5% from summer 2019 to 2021.

  • Paris officials plan to ban private vehicles from the historic heart of the city by early 2024.

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  • And Brussels intends to severely restrict cars from the city center by this August.

  • Culdesac is attempting to build a car-free city from scratch in Arizona. If the company succeeds, could it become a model for sustainable urban development all over the world?

  • Gouach, a French startup that builds repairable micromobility batteries, has raised $3.7M.

  • Thanks to mask mandates, regular disinfections, and physical distancing policies, Chinese commuters perceive the risk of COVID infection on public transport to be low. As a result, transit ridership in China has remained high throughout the pandemic.

  • Tembici, a Brazilian bikeshare startup, has raised $10M in a Series C round to fund expansion to Colombia.

  • The US infrastructure law allocates $1B for highway removal, which isn’t even enough to tear down a single highway in New York.

  • San Francisco is considering creating its own public bikeshare system at a cost of up to $18M a year.

  • RideCo, a Canadian firm that offers cities on-demand transit software, has raised $15.8M in Series A funding.

  • A UK charity unveiled an ambitious plan to build a nationwide bike network that would connect most towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

  • Chinese ebike startup URTOPIA has raised $10M in seed funding for R&D and recruitment.

  • Seattle dropped a law requiring bicyclists to wear helmets after a study showed the rule was disproportionately enforced against homeless people and people of color.

  • Users of UK bikeshare systems drive 3.7 fewer car miles per week.

  • Shared mobility usage skyrocketed when a labor strike paralyzed Paris’s public transit system on February 18.

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  • Using in-app encouragements, European superapp Bolt was able to nudge 60% of users to take a scooter instead of ridehail for short urban trips.

  • France has created a new regulatory category for scooters with seats and ebikes without pedals.

  • Inside the massive warehouse in East London where researchers are studying what kind of sound electric scooters should make to alert pedestrians of their presence.

  • Valeo’s long-awaited new ebike mid-drive system is ready for production.

  • ICYMI: Micromobility Europe is coming to Amsterdam on June 1-2, and for a limited time, tickets are 60% off full price. Reserve your ticket today, then come grab face time with leading city officials, startup leaders, investors, and more in the Netherlands this June.

  • With federal COVID stimulus funds running out, transit systems in Washington DC and LA both recently announced budget shortfalls and service cutbacks.

  • Why Specialized is betting on D2C: “In the largest sense, Specialized has put down a huge bet that its incremental direct-to-consumer sales dollars will more than offset whatever losses Specialized dealers extract in terms of fewer orders, in-store brand preference, or even by dropping the line entirely.”

  • Do you wish there was better data available on scooter and ebike sales? Do you have stats/insights that can help us paint a clearer market picture? We’d love to have a 15-min chat with you. This is an important issue for our industry and we’d like to get to the bottom of it. Contact us for more info.

Startup Spotlight

Browse startups looking to connect with investors.

đź”™ BackPedal

Theft protection for micromobility owners - if your vehicle gets stolen, we get it back.

Problem

Theft is a critical problem for people and businesses that rely on micromobility. It stops commuters from getting to work and fresh groceries from being delivered. Theft comes out of the blue and it’s a massive PITA.

Solution

We fit specialist trackers to bikes, ebikes, and escooters. If your vehicle gets stolen, our team gets it back. We custom fit each tracker so there is zero hassle for the customer. Our dedicated app provides peace of mind through smart features like tamper alerts.

How do you know it’s a problem?

Fear of theft is the #2 reason people don’t buy a bike. And, for people who do cycle, the most common way to prevent or mitigate theft is: “I just use a cheap bike!” Everyone in the bike world needs this problem solved.

Looking to meet…

  • Investors

  • UK-based retailers, OEMs, and fleet operators

Jobs to Be Done

Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post open positions in hopes of connecting our talented readers with professional opportunities in the burgeoning world of new mobility. Find out who’s hiring below and sign up for the newsletter to view fresh listings every week.

Hit reply if you have a job that you’re interested in listing.

Dance (Berlin, unless otherwise noted)

Radio Flyer: Bike Design Engineer (Chicago)

UBCO (US)