INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Well, that didn’t take long
Just three months after raising $50 million in Series A funding, e-scooter rentals startup Voi Technology has added another $30 million to
The new round sees existing investors Vostok New Ventures, Balderton Capital, LocalGlobe and Raine Ventures participate again, alongside new
investors Project A and Creandum.The inclusion of Project A won’t be entirely new news to close readers of TechCrunch
Based on my own sources, I reported that the Berlin-based early-stage VC was in the running in late October, and it was a surprise not to
see the firm on the list of backers when VOI announced its Series A a month later
This new round sees those loose ends tidied up nicely.A number of angel investors also participated
They include Cristina Stenbeck (Kinnevik), Justin Mateen (co-founder of Tinder), Keith Richman (board member, Grubhub), Jeff Wilke (Amazon),
Sujay Jaswa (founder of WndrCo), Sujay Tyle (CEO Frontier Car Group), Diego Piacentini (Former Head of International Business, Amazon)
Christian Leone (founder of Luxor Capital) and Spencer Rascoff (ex-CEO of Zillow).Voi says the new capital will be used to ramp up expansion
across Europe and invest in RD
The company is also now claiming to be the leading “home-grown” e-scooter rentals company in Europe — as opposed to U.S.-founded Lime
In seven months, Voi says it has garnered a customer base of over 400,000 riders, who have taken a total of more than 750,000 rides.Other
competitors operating in various parts of Europe include Flash — the stealthy mobility startup from Delivery Hero and Team Europe founder
Lukasz Gadowski that recently raised €55 million in Series A funding — as well as Berlin’s Wind Mobility ($22 million) and Tier (€25
million).Taxify has also announced its entrance into e-scooter rentals, and Silicon Valley’s Bird and Lime not only operate in Europe but
have received substantial investment from three of Europe’s top venture capital firms
Index and Accel have backed Bird, and Atomico has backed Lime.Staying on message, Voi says that key to its success to date is working
collaboratively with city authorities across the continent, including developing a Code of Conduct in Stockholm “to help the city’s
multiple scooter-sharing operators work more safely and efficiently together”
However, that didn’t stop Voi having its license temporarily revoked in Madrid, alongside Lime and Wind after a change in the law required
a change in the way e-scooter firms operate
It returned to the Spanish city in February.Meanwhile, the company says its strongest markets so far are in the Nordics
Namely, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Lund, Uppsala and Copenhagen, most of which it says will reach profitability in Q1
The e-scooter rental service is also live in Paris, Lyon, Madrid, Malaga, Zaragoza, Murcia, Lisbon and Faro
Today also sees a launch in Oslo, with Helsinki and other cities launching later this month
Italy, Germany, Norway and France are named as near-future expansions.
