Dott to roll out e-scooter expansion with extra $70 million funding
01/02/2022 06:00
By Nick Carey
LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Electric scooter rental firm Dott
said on Tuesday it had raised an extra $70 million which it will
use to roll out new e-bikes, expand into new cities and
countries and offer more services.
Amsterdam-based Dott had announced $85 million in the Series
B funding last year and the extra amount brings the total the
start-up has raised so far to around $210 million.
"We're all on this crusade against personal cars. We want to
make it super simple for anyone who wants to ditch their own car
to have other transportation modes," Dott Chief Executive Henri
Moissinac told Reuters.
The two largest global e-scooter rental operators are Bird
Global Inc BRDS.N , which listed in November, and Lime, which
aims to go public this year. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RV0R2 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2RW0SL
The business is expected to see further consolidation as
larger players scale up to navigate tougher regulation from
cities trying to adapt to e-scooters. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QX0HE
Ride numbers rebounded in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic
virtually shut down operators for lengthy periods in 2020.
And the scooter rental business is expected to undergo
further consolidation as larger operators seek greater scale to
handle tougher regulations from cities. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QX0HE
Dott said its extra funding was led by new investor abrdn
ABDN.L and existing investor Sofina SOF.BR . Its existing
investors including Prosus Ventures, the venture capital arm of
Prosus NV PRX.AS also participated in the latest round. I
declined to comment on the company's current valuation.
Dott, which has a fleet of 40,000 e-scooters and 10,000
e-bikes operating in 36 cities across nine European countries,
recently partnered with FREE NOW, a European platform that
offers ride-hailing and taxi services.
Moissinac said Dott is seeking more partners "to offer as
many options as possible for shared mobility to consumers",
adding that it will expand in France and Scandinavia, the
Netherlands with e-bikes only and possibly Israel.
(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Alexander Smith)
((nick.carey@thomsonreuters.com; +44 7385 414 954;))