Cruise gets $850 million, Musk $45 billion, Swiggy 10-min gourmet delivery and a week of events

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#movingpeople is a part of Mobility Business  - a consultancy dedicated to "All Things Mobility".  This week highlighting start-up services.

Message me on my LinkedIn profile if you want to meet at MOVE Wednesday-Thursday or at the Better Transport Conference Friday. I love learning about mobility innovation and exchanging opinions. 

Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT  🚙🚐

BlaBlaCar was a part - video - of VNV’s capital market day. Key takeaways: In 2023, BlaBlaCar had 105 million “human connections'' (i.e. bookings) with the company generating €253M in revenue, up 29% from €196M in 2022. 31% of those revenues were generated by bus activities, the rest from carpooling. Profitable since H2/22, in 2023 BlaBlaCar had a positive EBITDA of €35M. Future plans focus on: 

• Optimising core C2C carpooling, and to begin monetizing (i.e. charging money) in Brazil, India, Mexico and Turley

• Growing through M&A, mostly of OTAs

• Expanding into trains in Western Europe

• Developing a door-to-door carpooling model 

Ryde completed its secondary listings on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges. The Singapore-based company is traded on the NYSE, where it has a current market capitalisation of around US$133.5M. No funds were raised at this point; the company wants to attract European inventors. 

Dida Chuxing (not DiDi!), one of the country's largest ride-hailing players, files for IPO in Hong Kong. Dida operates in 366 cities, and in 2023 completed 130.3 million rides and had a net profit of $41.4M. Other players who have filed for an IPO in the past year include Ruqi Mobility (by GAC) and Caocao Chuxing (by Geely). DiDi isn’t listed right now, and is rumoured to list in Hong Kong this year. 

Freenow rolls back on its ‘Fixed Price” for London on-demand black taxis, a month after introducing the scheme. Uride expands to smaller North Okanagan communities. Nagara is a new subscription-based Bengaluru ride-hailing solution, initiated by a local auto rickshaw drivers union, taking on Uber, Rapido, Ola and Namma Yatri. In Germany, Uber is trying to recruit more taxi drivers into its supply, across the country. Today the company has over 4,000 taxis registered on its platform. Eight Chinese local governments issued a warning that ride-hailing is saturated. There are 349 ride-hailing platforms in China. Gloucestershire County Council expand their Padam-powered DRT service. 

Meet RideNear - the new UK ride-hailing solution that aggregates multiple global and local providers into one convenient app, ensuring better access to available vehicles, a broader range of options, and superior price and ETA comparisons.

Founded by Miraskar Mirakhmedov, RideNear is now emerging from stealth with paying users and partnerships in place. Try it out, RideNear is available on Google Play and the App Store. 

I’ve joined RideNear as an advisor to help them navigate the mobility ecosystem, and I am confident about their success. RideNear is in the midst of a pre-seed round - so DM the founder or myself for more information.

Car Sharing/renting 🚗

Porto.ua, first Ukrainian platform for P2P car sharing, launched in beta version. Hiyacar launches “Closed Loop Car Sharing” in Buxton and Hope Valley, UK. Vay now delivers driverless cars driverless in all of central Las Vegas, 

Micromobility 🚲🛴

Voi was also a part of VNV’s capital market day - video. Key takeaways: founder/CEO Fredrik Hjelm is optimistic due to four factors: 

• Regulation has matured - making it more predictable (and easy) to work with cities 

• Competitive pressure has come down - making not only competition easier but also allowing Voi (and other players) more power vis-a-vis cities

• Bikes are a good future growth engine

• Improved financials: Gross Profit improved from 31% in 2020 to 49% in 2023; and Voi achieved group EBITDA profitability - 7% in the 12 months training and expecting a positive EBITDA in 2024 (vs. a -3% in 2023)

Rome suspended Lime and Dott scooter and bike services for 7-14 days for failing to comply with guidelines around the distribution of vehicles. A Dott spokesman said “penalties for bike sharing do not surprise us at all… over 30 percent of the bikes are used less than once every two days, especially in peripheral areas, making the bike-sharing service financially unsustainable in this context”. 

Palella Holdings LLC acquires 51% of micromobility.com. Salvatore Palella and Gian Luca Spriano, the people behind Palella Holdings LLC, are the founder/CEO and CFO of micromobility.com, so actually this is restructuring more than acquisition. In Q1/24, the company had $571K (!) in revenue, a loss from operations of $4.9M and a net loss of $4.5M. I don’t get it. 

I love meeting new people, learning about mobility innovation and exchanging opinions. Want to get-to-know and talk mobility? Let’s set up a half-hour coffee chat. 

Delivery 🍽🧺

Swiggy brings back its gourmet delivery service ‘Handpicked’, a year after shutting it down. The 10-minute service launches in Bengaluru, via Instamart. Expansion to additional cities expected soon. Also, Swiggy Instamart partners with Hamleys to offer 10-minute toy deliveries. DoorDash ramps up alcohol delivery, adding more grocers and liquor stores to its offering. foodpanda Bangladesh introduces its own private label. 

Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡

China is testing more driverless cars than any other country. There are 16+ cities allowing driverless operations on public roads, and 19 automakers and suppliers working toward an AV goal, with favourable government regulation. Meanwhile in LA, the city is voting for more power to regulate AVs. I assume LA doesn’t want to be in the position San Francisco was a year ago. And back in China, Minieye, AV company, is looking to go Public in Hong Kong. 

Cruise gets $850M from GM, which will “help bridge Cruise funding until we can find the right long-term capital efficient strategy, including potential new partnerships and external funding”. In simple words, Cruise needs more time to regain attractiveness with new investors. To date, Cruise raised $15 billion. Also Cruise resumes driving in Houston. 

Waymo issues software recall to all 672 of its Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis, after one of them collided with a telephone pole. This is Waymo’s 2nd recall. 

May Mobility launches robotaxi pilot for people with mobility issues in Detroit. This is May Mobility's 14th deployment to date. 

Flying cars 🚁

EHang performs first pilotless eVTOL test flight in Saudi Arabia. Lilium opens a Chinese entity, in collaboration with the Shenzhen-based Bao’an District. 

I publish opinion articles and deep-fives such as the Turo FY23 analysis only on Beehiiv. Subscribe to #movingpeople on beehive to receive premium content. 

OEMs 🛺⚡️

If not in enough trouble, Fisker issues an over-the-air update recall to its only model, because of problems with the warning lights 

Porsche partnered with ChargePoint in the US, allowing its drivers access to nationwide charging stations. 

Gig economy 💰

Court rejected Uber’s challenge to California Gig Worker Law, known as AB5, after Uber couldn’t prove the law singles out app-based transportation companies. Currently there is no change to gig employment, as Proposition 22 still holds, waiting for a different court hearing on whether it is constitutional. 

In other news 📰

Battery-electric is now the most popular powertrain for new city buses in the EU. 

Tesla’s shareholders approve Elon Musk’s $45,000,000,000 (45 billion) bonus package. 

Vehicle damage claims in Wales fell 20% since speed limit cut to 20mph. 

I love meeting new people, learning about mobility innovation and exchanging opinions. Want to get-to-know and talk mobility? Let’s set up a half-hour coffee chat. 

People 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Guillaume Naegelen is the new Business Manager Europe - EV charging solutions @ Mobilize.

Jaap Tjebbes is the new Product owner @ Coding the Curbs.

Jane Reagan is the new Head of Global Strategy, Mobility @ Uber. 

Jhon Alexander Ramirez Ospina is the new Regional General Manager South-West Europe @ nextbike. 

Mathieu Mhun is the new Senior Product Manager @ MyTraffic. 

Rainer Steinschaden is the new Location Manager @ E.ON Drive Infrastructure. 

Congrats and good luck!

Thank you for reading #movingpeople. Subscribe to #movingpeople on Beehiiv to receive premium content. 

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