[ad_1]
CERRITOS, Calif. – Razor USA LLC launched the latest great fashion in America nearly twenty years ago, when its foldable two-wheeled models became a sensation for the country's children.
Now, the California company is poised to catch up on a new scooter boom, hoping for a second act in a crowded market for sharable electric races for adults, driven by high-value start-ups and torrents of capital risk.
Razor, which still makes scooters and other personal means of transport, has great ambitions in terms of leasing. The leaders say they can get better quality scooters, designed for heavy use at a lower cost than their competitors, taking advantage of their manufacturing relationships in China.
Razor executives say they have been encouraged to enter the rental business recently, after realizing the company was not doing the scooters that rivals rented, or their own rental option.
Carlton Calvin, co-founder and CEO of Razor, remembers checking the scooter boom last fall when Bird Rides Inc. sprayed his rental scooters on the beach-fronted streets of Santa Monica, California.
"I went there and I could not believe my eyes," Calvin said.
This is partly because Razor has been designing and selling similar electric scooters for a few years, but Bird used a newly popular scooter manufactured by Ninebot Inc., a Chinese start-up backed by the electronics giant.
Xiaomi
Corp.
Scooter leaders said they appreciated the design of the Ninebot scooters and that they were both securing customized scooters.
Electric razor scooters in a warehouse.
Photo:
USA shaver
Since late July, Razor has launched its scooter rental service in San Diego, Phoenix and Long Beach, California. It plans to be present in a dozen cities by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Bird and its competitor Lime, a division of Neutron Holdings Inc., have raised close to $ 900 million between them since their incorporation at the beginning of last year and are valued at $ 2 billion and 1, respectively. $ 1 billion. Their initial success triggered a frenzy among Silicon Valley investors eager for the next big news, and their business model, which offers scooters that can be rented via smartphone and left after use at prices starting at $ 0.15 per minute. , is easily replicated. Car rental companies Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are also lobbying.
The companies do not publish figures, but Bird and Lime say they are present in more than 100 markets and each has logged more than 10 million trips. Cities usually have a few hundred scooters per company.
"Competition with very well funded companies like Bird and Lime will be a challenge for [Razor]Said Ashish Aggarwal, director of venture capital firm Grishin Robotics, which has invested in two other scooter startup companies.
Startups have spent a year solving the problems of a business that requires a network of people to collect scooters and bill them every night, and have begun to learn the complexities of relationships with local governments. "These are new areas where they have no benefit," Aggarwal said of Razor.
Razor executives say that they learn quickly and think that they can be profitable in the business. The company also focuses on cooperation with local governments.
Start-ups often have a cachet that facilitates the recruitment of young talents in programming and marketing. Bird's offices in Venice Beach are housed in a refurbished warehouse, which formerly housed Vice Media, near the famed Abbot Kinney Boulevard, with shops that serve chocolate ice cream to the avocado and Oaxaca and sparkling Matcha tea. Snapchat's first office was nearby.
In contrast, Razor is based 30 miles inland, in the suburbs of Cerritos, California, in a concrete bunker-type building with a white ceiling on the inside. Razor said he could attract high quality talent.
Scooter power. Almost two decades ago, Razor kicked off the latest craze for scooters in America, as its folding two-wheeled models became popular with kids.
Photo:
Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
The company began in 2000, when Mr. Calvin, who designed and sold small scale toys, partnered with JD Corp., a Taiwanese company, to bring a scooter to the United States that was manufactured and sold in Asia. It was a blow. In 2000 alone, Razor pumped more than 5 million scooters, Calvin said. But the kids quickly went into the next fashion and the demand sank. Warehouses full of competing razors and scooters were unsold.
"It was the craziest moment of my life," said Mr. Calvin, now 57 years old. "When he stopped, he stopped dead."
Since then, Razor has used other products such as pogo-sticks and hoverboards, while still pumping scooters of all shapes and sizes.
The limited liability company declined to share details about its finances or its shared scooter business, but Mr. Calvin stated that he was "very, very focused on the scooters, and I think we can do it ".
On a recent visit, a warehouse attached to the back of Razor's headquarters was filled with row-packed electric scooters waiting for deployment. Mr. Calvin said the company already had "several thousand" and had more.
The learning curve is steep. His app was buggy and a scooter crossed the Mexican border from San Diego to Tijuana.
"There are a lot of challenges that you do not have when you are just selling from
Walmart
,
"Mr. Calvin said.
Write to Eliot Brown at [email protected]
Source link
