E mobility companies are popping up everywhere. Many are questioning if there is still time to get in on the action.
Market Players
If you are living in a city like San Francisco, Paris, Brussels Vienna or Zurich you have seen people riding around on e scooters. Brands that have entered the market of e scooters and micro-mobility include but are not limited to: Lime, Bird, Beam, Do tt, Flash, PopScoot, Scoot, Skip, Spin, Tier Mobility, Voi Technology, and Vogo. It will be interesting to see how many of these companies will be around in the next five years.
When you look into the success of Bird and Lime it is pretty understandable why many new companies are interested in a piece of the e scooter pie. A recent article in Forbes highlighted that within their first year both Bird and lime achieved billion dollar valuations. On a global level the market size for purchasing e scooters, whether the purchaser is an individual or a ride sharing company, was valued at over 17.43 billion USD.
Currently, more than 90 cities and various universities across the globe have e scooter sharing services available. If you are unsure about with e scooter company to try or our curious on which one to buy check out ePilot for free comparisons.
E Scooters in Berlin
Here in Berlin, e scooters are set to hit the streets after June 15th. So does it make sense to start an e mobility company in berlin? What about another european city? Or are the major players here to stay?
One thing that the Paranoid Internet team has noticed lately is that Uber has started a massive online ad campaign to promote their project, Jump. Jump is an electric bike sharing application. Not only are new startups coming in but big industry mobility is interested in the possibility of adding e mobility to their service offerings.
What is most obvious is that the e mobility startups are not afraid of a funding round. The environment is almost like a winner take all scenario where startups only a couple years old are interested in spending big bucks to take the whole market. However, some are already not making it. The spanish company, Ufo, seems to have gone out of business.
That being said, if you are based in europe there are still some major cities that have not yet rolled out e scooters. It could make sense to break into a city with a deep understanding for its regulations and target segments. For example, e scooters remain under a ban in London, but this of course, could eventually be lifted.
Are E Scooters a Safe Bet?
It is important to note that there is a strong presence of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) seeking to add e scooters to their product lineup. Future projections also foresee that the cost of batteries is on the decline and thusly the price the of e scooters is set to decline as well.
At present e scooters do not last that long out on the streets and especially not when the weather is tumultuous. Despite the disposable element of the vehicles themselves they are still considered eco-friendly, fuel-efficient,easy to handle and compact.
“By 2040 we expect the contribution from shared mobility services to rise to 19% of total kilometer traveled”
BloombergNEF
At present the market is a bit flooded with most of the young companies supported by founding and not yet profits. Data shows e mobility is on the rise but that does not mean that the e scooter could just be a passing trend. Pursue at your own risk. 😉