Sweden-headquartered electric scooter rental service Voi Technology has secured $115m in a series D round that included pension insurance service provider Ilmarinen, adding to a post-lockdown resurgence in the sector.
Merchant banking group Raine Group and investment firm VNV Global co-led the round, which also featured Inbox Capital, Nordic Ninja, Stena Sessan, Kreos Capital, Nineyards Equity, ICT Capital and undisclosed private investors.
Founded in 2018, Voi operates an app-based e-scooter rental service spanning urban centres in 11 European countries, allowing users to book scooters and park them at racks within the city.
Voi said it recorded 140% growth in its revenue this year and it will use the cash to move into new European cities and launch the latest iteration of its e-scooter and expand the size of its fleet.
The transaction represents the latest large round for an e-scooter rental platform developer in 2021.
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $200m series D round for Germany-headquartered Tier Mobility in October this year valuing it at $2bn. Elsewhere in Europe, Netherlands-based Dott raised $85m from investors including Prosus Ventures six months earlier.
In the US meanwhile, Lime received $523m in convertible debt and term loan financing from investors including Uber last month. Bird listed in May through a $2.3bn reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Switchback II Corporation.
Estonia-headquartered ride hailing service Bolt also offers e-scooter rentals as part of its offering, and secured $713m in August at a valuation above $4.75bn.
The series D round brought Voi’s overall funding to $435m and follows a $205m series C round featuring Raine Group, VNV Global, Inbox Capital, Stena Sessan, Balderton Capital, Creandum, Project A and various individuals that closed in August this year.
VNV Global and unnamed existing investors had supplied $30m for Voi in July 2020, eight months after it raised $85m from Vostok New Ventures, Inbox Capital, Balderton, Project A, Raine Ventures, Kreos Capital, JME Ventures, Rider Global, Black Ice Capital, and Creandum.
The 2019 funding came the year after the company closed $50m in series A funding from Balderton, Vostok New Ventures, Raine Ventures, Project A, Creandum, LocalGlobe and angel investors including Jeff Wilke, Justin Mateen, Sebastian Knutsson and Spencer Rascoff.
Voi’s co-founder and chief executive, Fredrik Hjelm, said: “There is no doubting that micromobility is here to stay and Voi intends to be the go-to mobility platform in Europe for cities that want to give their residents and visitors an integrated, smart mode way to travel.
“Working closely with cities we are seeing a new vision of urban transport taking shape that is highly complementary to public transport. We are building the future of transport and we are committed to making every Voi town and city a better place to live.”
Photo courtesy of Voi.
