Creandum x Voi: Europe’s leading micromobility company’s ride to success

What started as a much-debated hype two years ago has now proven to be a real business model. Demand for clean micromobility is increasing as consumers look for new alternatives to move around big cities in a convenient, sustainable, quick and safe way. In response, cities are clamping down on cars, accelerating the path of the e-scooter market to become a multi-billion dollar industry.

When the Creandum funds invested in Voi in early 2019, long before Covid-related safety concerns fueled the trend towards individual transport, we shared the vision of Voi founder Fredrik Hjelm, that “cities should be pleasant places to live, work and travel in — where transport does not pollute the air, jeopardize people’s health or cut them off from their environment.”

In 2018, Voi was the first European e-scooter player that launched onto the market but following the US trend, it was clear that it would become a very crowded industry. Looking back at our investment hypothesis, we came to the conclusion that that in order to lead the micromobility movement in Europe,

“…the winner will be defined by speed, working closely with city regulators, best product in terms of hardware and app, integration with other transportation means and access to capital.”

Two years later, Fredrik and his team have not only built a profitable subscription business, and are known as “Europe’s preferred operator” with the highest fleet efficiency but they can also tick all of our required boxes:

Speed

We continue to be impressed by the pace at which the team is iterating and improving Voi’s product and operations. Since its inception in 2018, the team has executed at unparalleled speed and is now active in more than 50 cities in 11 countries. (And this despite reducing their operations from 40 to 5 cities for a couple of weeks in March during the first Covid-induced lockdown.)

While Voi remains the clear winner in its home region, the Nordics (where it was recently named “Startup of the Year 2020”) and a strong player in Germany and Switzerland, the company also successfully gained the lead in the potentially largest market, the UK. Voi is about to more than treble the size of its UK fleet as it expands to 16 British cities, making it the UK’s leading operator, covering 80% of the market.

Working closely with city regulators

Central to Voi’s business model so far has been working hand-in-hand with local authorities — a move that has seen it score over 2/3 of city license tenders across Europe, including recent wins in Birmingham, Liverpool, Bern and Cambridge.

Product

Voi has distinctly differentiated their product offering by focusing on sustainability and safety — the company’s key priorities — and those initiatives have paid off: By introducing swappable batteries, integrating more sustainable fleet management infrastructure and switching to renewable energy to power their operations wherever possible, Voi has reduced the already minimal environmental impact of e-scooters even further.

Source: Voi Sustainability Statement 2019

But the innovation doesn’t stop there: Voi is now also turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to enable its vehicles to detect pedestrians and sidewalks; they have recently announced a partnership with Irish AI startup Luna.

Integration with other transportation means

Partnering with other mobility providers is key to making the use of scooters as frictionless as possible and expanding the user’s choice between mobility alternatives. Voi has closed a number of those strategic partnerships, such as a collaboration with FREE NOW in Germany, with SBB in Switzerland and BlaBlaCar in France.

“At Voi, we strongly believe that changing traffic for good can only be achieved through joint efforts.” — Claus Unterkirchner, Voi’s General Manager DACH

In June 2020, Voi announced their partnership with car-sharing company FREE NOW.

Access to capital

Despite Voi’s strong business model, access to capital is needed to expand to more markets, double down on user acquisition and differentiate software and hardware. With $160 million in new funding, Voi can cement its leadership within Europe’s rapidly evolving micromobility transportation sector and continue to be a key driver of a sustainable future of mobility.

We’re delighted to continue to be part of the ride towards greener, cleaner cities. Congratulations to the entire Voi team!

Want to get on board? Voi is hiring all over Europe!