France-based electric moped rental platform CityScoot secured €23.6m ($25.5m) in equity funding from investors including insurance provider Allianz France and public transport operator RATP Group on Monday.
Growth equity firm Demeter also participated, as did Banque des Territoires, which is overseen by the French government-owned Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, while RATP Group participated through subsidiary RATP Capital Innovation.
CityScoot runs an app-based service that allows users in the cities of Paris and Nice in France, and Milan and Rome in Italy, to rent mopeds they pay for by the minute. Allianz France has been its insurer since it launched the business in 2016.
Julien Martinez, director of strategy, innovation and mergers and acquisitions for Allianz France, said: “Allianz France is delighted to have put its know-how and creativity at the service of the startup to offer comprehensive insurance, for the first time in this sector, a guarantee of confidence and safety for all electric moped users.
“This investment represents a further step in our partnership with Cityscoot and in our strategy to become the benchmark insurer in the shared economy. As a pioneer in the insurance of new forms of travel, we want to embody the future of mobility: shared, on-demand and electric.”
The equity funding was secured alongside $6.5m in financing that will be used to buy mopeds in a bid to increase the size of the company’s fleet to 8,000. It also intends to enter two new European cities over the course of 2020, beginning with Barcelona.
CityScoot raised $16.7m from Caisse des Dépôts, InVenture Partners and two unnamed family offices in 2016, and subsequently added $49m from RATP Capital Innovation, fleet management service LeasePlan, Caisse des Dépôts and InVenture in early 2018.
Photo courtesy of CityScoot.
