INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The funding extravaganza may be approaching its end for scooter “unicorns” Lime and Bird, but smaller startups in the micro-mobility
space have continued to close venture capital rounds at a consistent pace
See Grin, Tier and Yellow for examples.The latest is Dott, a European scooter startup founded by Maxim Romain, Ofo’s former head of
Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Romain joined Ofo, a Chinese bike- and scooter-sharing company that raised more than $1 billion in venture capital funding but has
struggled to scale overseas, in 2018 to help it expand
He only lasted seven months before realizing he could do it better himself.“Why work for a Chinese company when we can do it ourselves in
Europe where we better understand the market” Romain told TechCrunch. Dott, headquartered in Amsterdam, has raised €20 million in a
round co-led by EQT Ventures and Naspers. Axel Springer Digital Ventures, DN Capital, Felix Capital and others also joined
Dott is using the capital to launch in several cities across Europe, beginning with an early 2019 e-scooter pilot at Station F, a startup
Additional launches are in the pipeline, as are electric bikes.As a result of its learnings from Ofo, Bird and Lime, all of which have
struggled to keep their equipment out of disadvantageous spots, like trees, lakes and garbage cans, Dott says it’s built sturdier
They have 10” wheels, wider decks, a double brake system for safety, a speed cap at 20km/h and apparently are able to hold a charge longer
than competing scooters — though we couldn’t independently verify this.Dott says it’s taking a friendlier approach to launching in
new cities, again, unlike some of its predecessors
If you remember, Bird showed up in a number of cities without permission — a move that resulted in it being denied a permit to operate in
Dott will hire local teams to collaborate with city officials to develop pilot plans tailored to each market and it won’t rely on gig
economy workers to recharge, clean and maintain scooters
Instead, it will hire and train a team of Dott employees dedicated to maintenance in each city.“I think a lot of the companies grow too
fast in the sense that they don’t necessarily have the product that can enable them to be profitable but because they want to win the
“They want to raise as much money as possible as quick as possible and to deploy scooters as quick as possible
This creates an environment for them where their unit economics are extremely bad.”“That’s exactly what we saw with bike-sharing in
In the end, the reality of the unit economics came back to bite them
Lime and Bird are doing a lot to improve their hardware but it’s a risk for the industry
For us, we are taking the view that we really need to focus on the product so we have the right unit economics and we can be
sustainable. If you want to make it happen, you have to make it happen in a sustainable way.”
