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We already knew that the space of the electronic scooter in Europe was heating up. Tier, of Berlin, announced today that he had raised 25 million euros thanks to a tour led by Northzone, and rumors circulated that Delivery Hero's founder, Lukasz Gadowski, had Was engaged in the context context of the recently-expanded American Bird and Lime companies in Europe. It seems, however, that Balderton Capital is about to take action by investing in the Swedish company VOI Technology, another rental game of electric scooters with pan-European ambitions.
According to many sources, the London-based venture capital firm is preparing to conduct a tour of the VOI group, based in Stockholm. Two sources state that the amount invested is $ 15 million for a valuation before the money between $ 35 and $ 40 million, while another source indicates that it could reach $ 25 million. Furthermore, I hear that given the multiplicity of warrant sheets and the pace at which the company is growing, VOI is currently considering increasing the amount to $ 50 million.
Other venture capital companies that are expected to participate include Project A Berlin and Dutch Prime Ventures.
To date, VOI has raised nearly $ 3 million in seed money from Vostok New Ventures.
I contacted Balderton Capital earlier in the day, but I did not get an answer. A Project spokesperson also declined to comment. Neither Prime Ventures nor VOI could be attached at the time of publication.
What is particularly remarkable about Balderton's entry into the electric scooter market is that three of the four "other four big" London venture capitalists have already invested in space. Index and Accel supported Bird and Atomico supported Lime.
As I mentioned in my previous paper on tiered financing – the most important financial support for a European company so far – this does not prevent a number of European investors from To use to create "Bird or Lime of Europe" even though it is far from clear that Bird or Lime will not take that title for themselves (which is obviously the bet of Index, Accel and Atomico). The general opinion of European venture capitalists who are determinedly trying to feed a competitor born in Europe is that they do not want the market for electric scooter rental to be overthrown by the United States in the same way as Uber arrived and eliminated many local actors.
That said, the worst case scenario for many of these same (and non-participating) VCs is that Bird or Lime will eventually acquire the most promising European electric scooter company or companies. In other words, the disadvantage is somewhat mitigated, which makes a real homerun.
Meanwhile, Gadowski's Tier, VOI and Go Flash are not the only startups born in Europe of electronic scooters with pan-European ambitions. There is also Coup, an electric scooter subsidiary owned by Bosch and backed by BCG Digital Ventures, which operates in Berlin, Paris and Madrid. And just two months ago, Taxify announced its intention to rent electric scooters under the brand Bolt, launched in Paris but also planning to be pan-European, including Germany.
Not that everyone is convinced. The first two European VCs I spoke to today said that they hated space. "I just do not understand, is not going to be a massive bloodbath?" Said one of the VCs before questioning about the total number of exits we could see each year in Europe. "I just do not see how Europe will produce several multi-billion dollar companies in this space. I think the size of the market limits it.
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