INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
VOI Technology, an e-scooter startup headquartered in Sweden but with pan-European ambitions, has raised $50 million in Series A funding,
confirming our earlier scoop
As I previously reported, London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital has led the round, alongside LocalGlobe, Raine Ventures, and
previous VOI backer Vostok New Ventures.A number of angel investors also participated
They include Cristina Stenbeck, Jeff Wilkes (Amazon), Justin Mateen (co-founder of Tinder), Nicolas Brusson (CEO and co-founder of
early fundraising tells me this is in actual fact two rounds effectively being announced at the same time, although both VOI and Balderton
The e-scooter startup had previously raised around $3 million earlier this year.What I do know, however, is the size of this new round got
increased significantly very late on as VOI continues to gain early traction and the round became more competitive with a lot of VC interest
According to my sources, the initial target was $15 million at a pre-money valuation of between $35-40 million
Jafer and Filip Lindvall, VOI has since expanded to Madrid, Zaragoza and Malaga in Spain
The plan is to use the new funding to continue to expand into new European markets
The VOI jobs page reveals that VOI is recruiting country managers for Denmark, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, and Finland, too.Like other
QR code, and ride anywhere in the city
have taken 200,000 rides, travelling 350,000 kilometres
feeling that city politicians are against scooters
firms have already made United States investments in the space
for themselves (which is obviously the bet being made by Index, Accel and Atomico)
The thinking is that the market has become so competitive so early, a lot of VC dollars are going to be spent (and potentially wasted)
before it is far from clear who will be the eventual winner
That feels quite unusual for Europe, where it is more common for competing VCs to back off or co-invest once one or two of the big firms (or
Fjeldsoe-Nielsen says that in the last four weeks VOI has doubled it revenues and that Balderton is seeing the same kind of traction and
