INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
On the heels of Bird closing a $275 million round to help put itself in pole position in the electric scooter market, a smaller European
rival has also raised some money to grow its own business
Tier Mobility, a Berlin-based startup that operates a fleet of 20,000 scooters across 40 cities in 12 countries, has raised $60 million,
but in an interview Leuschner declined to say what those might be, or when they will come online
fleet, Leuschner said.This latest funding, a Series B, is being co-led by Mubadala Capital and Goodwater Capital
Mubadala, for background, is the state fund for Abu Dhabi, which is currently the only non-European market where Tier operates
Mubadala made some headlines earlier this year when it was revealed that SoftBank was backing its $400 million fund for European investments
of this year), Tier has grown to 10 million rides, adding 8 million in the last four months both through its direct services and by way of
partnerships with others, such as car rental company Sixt
growth, but it comes with challenges
The funding today takes the total raised by Tier to around $95 million
However, relatively speaking, that is actually a modest amount when you consider the hundreds of millions raised by the likes of Bird
That shows how efficiently we are operating
starters), he said that Tier is already profitable in some of its markets.One of the other big sticking points that has hindered the growth
of more scooter services has been regulation, and specifically safety concerns, with reports of faulty software and human error / reckless
driving both contributing to a number of accidents.Leuschner noted that Tier has had around 250 accidents to date across its 10 million
see both more safety initiatives rolled out by Tier, but also potentially the emergence of insurance policies provided to customers as part
of the service.All told, the strong growth on the back of conservative capital, combined with the experience of the founders (Laug had also
micromobility provider in Europe on only a fraction of the invested capital of their competitors
This is a true testament to the uniquely capital efficient and profitable model the team chose to deploy from the outset
