Zum raises $140M, Scooter legal wars in Brussels, foodpanda deal in trouble and Aptiv cuts Motional

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Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT  🚙🚐

Zeelo, smart-bus commuter & education player founded in the UK and operational also in the US and South Africa, acquired Kura, education focused player, operating in the UK. This acquisition cements Zeelo’s lead in the UK market, and allows for quicker growth in the US. The combined company will have >200 customers, >450 operator partners and >40,000 daily rides. 

Zum, smart-bus education player in the US, raises $140M at a $1.3bn valuation. This brings total funding to $350M. Zum has been very successful in the US, now operating more than 4,000 school  buses. Funds will be used to further develop its AI platform and EV operations. 

CitySwift, Big-Data AI for public transport, raises €7M. Funds will be used for further expansion. The use of advanced tools to plan PT is growing, with companies such as Asistobe, Aimsun, Teralytics and Replan bringing advanced analysis and planning tools to public transport companies. Watch this space.

FlixBus launches in India. Back in June the company signalled its intentions, and now comes the launch, making India Flix’s 43rd country of operations. Flix is launching in 46 cities, putting an emphasis on passenger safety and comfort, with features such as gender-seating (women will be seated together), 24X7 incident report centre, and a policy for buses no older than 3 years. 

MoveinSync, employee commute platform, raises $15M. Funds will be used to expand into markets such as the Philippines, South Africa, and the Middle East.

Nemi launched two new DRT services in Girona: one connecting rural parts in Ogassa and operating only upon request; and the 2nd a night bus connecting coastal towns, geared toward helping vulnerable users with stops closer to them. 

Namma Yatri, Indian rickshaw ride-hailing, expands to Chennai via the ONDC network and read here how it all started. Bolt expands to Zimbabwe, its 12th African country. There are rumours that Bolt is expanding to Canada. I haven’t been able to verify that yet. 

Grab is under in-depth review for its Trans-cab acquisition. The acquisition was announced back in July, and the Competition and Consumer Commission in Singapore (CCCS) has some concerns about the deal, mainly fear that Grab will use the acquisition to “lock’ supply. The CCCS said that the inspection process is to take 120 business days, so expect an answer in mid-2024. 

In Poland, taxi & drivers are in short supply, with numbers falling from 71K in 2009 to 55K in 2019 to 50,884 in 2023. This is attributed to increased costs, weaker demand, and move of customers to global ride-hailing platforms such as Uber and Bolt, who in turn have supply issues of their own. 

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2023 On-Demand Transit Market Report 🚐🌍

Lukas Foljanty sums up on-demand (/DRT/microtransit) in 2023: over 310 new projects, reaching over 1,000 projects active today; most projects (74%) are B2G with paratransit showing immense growth, and B2B services in university campuses and employee transport services are growing as well. Most active markets are the US, Germany and Japan. Via still leads by much, trailed by Padam. Spare and ioki. Small fleets and pilots are still the industry’s challenge, and so are usage numbers. For many more insights. 

#movingpeople is a part of Mobility Business  - a consultancy dedicated to "All Things Mobility". If your company faces a challenge, or you are an investor with an appetite for mobility, let’s talk.

Car Sharing/renting 🚗

Zoomcar, P2P focused car-sharing. launches a new product - Thrift Store - designed for savings. Users can save up to 50% on same-day and 30%-45% on next day orders. While this is a very understandable customer-focused initiative, it is safe to assume that “hosts” will only reluctantly join, as demand builds up.

Free2move is offering US dealership two new programs: Free2move Mobility Corner, allowing dealerships access to Free2move car sharing and subscription software, and Free2move Mobility Operator, allowing dealerships to lease vehicles from Stellantis and offer them to their customers via the Free2move solution. 

drivemycar AG, Swiss car sharing, adds microcars to its fleet, which will now constitute 10% of the company’s fleet. Hiyacar and Zipcar expand in Greenwich, London. 

Ejaro, P2P car-sharing in Saudi Arabia, raises $3.28M (12.3M Ryals). 

Lotte Rental acquires additional stock in Socar, South Korean car-sharing leader with ±19,000 vehicles, increasing stake from 14.99% to 34.69%. 

Micromobility 🚲🛴

Earlier in January, Brussels published its micromobility tenders winners: Dott and Bolt were the big winners with e-scooters and e-bikes; Voi also won e-bikes. Now Lime and Voi are challenging that decision with a court appeal, saying that the “selection process for micromobility operators was flawed and suffered from a lack of transparency”. As a result, until their contract expires or courts decide otherwise, Lime (July 2025) and Voi (August 2025) will continue to operate in the city, alongside Dott and Bolt, which means that scooter numbers will not be reduced from 20,000 to 8,000 as planned.  I think that this is a sign that the industry has matured, and is willing to get its hands dirty in pursuit of revenues. 

Budapest has selected Populus to manage its shared mobility services. 

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

Delivery 🍽🧺

South East Asia food delivery market: Grab leads with 55% GMV market share, Expenditures in the market grow 5% YoY, reaching a total of $17.1bn, and there is still plenty of growth to be had in the region.

Out of the list of countries above, Delivery Hero wants to sell foodpanda’s operations in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines (and has closed its Vietnam operations). How will this pass anti-competition rules is beyond me. 

And on the subject, rumours were circulating that the deal collapsed because Grab and Delivery Hero could not agree on foodpanda’s price. That has been denied by Delivery Hero. TBC.  

Delivery Hero sells its 4.5% stake in Deliveroo, citing “commitment to disciplined capital allocation”. The sale is worth £83M / $97M, roughly 40% less than the price Delivery Hero paid for at the time. Has Delivery Hero lost faith in Deliveroo or is it just cash-strapped? 

DoorDash adds a $1.99 delivery fee in New York - in response to the city’s new minimum wage law. In Seattle, DoorDash’s fees range from $0.1 to $3.4, depending on area delivered to. 

Bolt launches same-day parcel delivery in Johannesburg North, a month after Bolt Food's closure in South Africa. Getir announces new US leadership. Gopuff introduces overnight Starbucks delivery. Evermile and Tide partner in the UK. 

Interview with Grubhub’s VP of Logistics: the secret to a successful marketplace is local-forecasting; location / drop off instructions customers leave on the app really help the driver; and cities could assist with designated parking zones.

Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡

Aptiv to stop funding and reduce stake in Motional, the AV company which is a joint venture between the company and Hyundai. “The costs related to delivering the tech principally, in and around hardware, really makes it challenging from an adoption standpoint in the mobility on-demand market”. With this move Aptiv joins Ford & VW (Argo AI) and GM (Cruise) which chose to de-invest in autonomous technology. It is not clear who, if at all, will replace Aptiv. 

GM announced it is cutting $1bn of Cruise’s 2024 budget. In 2023 Cruise burned $1.9 in cash, and recorded a loss of over $3bn.  

Elmo, teledriving, is getting ready to teledrive for 2,000 km, from Amsterdam to Tallinn, while remotely controlling from Tallinn. 

Maybe China is going to lead the autonomous vehicle industry, or not. What we do know that it is racking up the miles, enjoys favourable regulation, and according to this FT long-read could close the gap by 2027. 

Flying cars 🚁

Archer’s Midnight completes phase 1 of flight test program

EHang plans to sell its autonomous air taxi in China for the equivalent of €300,000 ($334K). Price is a key takeaway here - prices for Western eVTOL models are expected to be in the millions mark, with prices for today’s small helicopters in that range. 

OEMs 🛺⚡️

Volvo stops funding Polestar, luxury EV maker. Volvo has 48% in Polestar, but now this is an issue for Geely, the parent company of both, to sort out.

Cake, Swedish electric motorcycle maker, announces bankruptcy. The company was unable to secure additional funding. 

Arrival delists from the Nasdaq. 

Gig economy 💰

The Netherlands fine Uber €10M for lack of transparency in treating the personal data of its French drivers (why the Netherlands? Because Uber HQ is in the country). Uber to appeal. 

In London & Brighton, on Friday, 3,000 Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats drivers went on a 5 hour strike, from 5pm to 10pm, demanding more money. Getir says the strike was successful - for Getir itself. 

In other news 📰

On Sunday the citizens of Paris were called for another referendum, deciding if to tax large vehicles (cough, SUVs) by increasing their parking costs. Parisians said YES, but only with 54.5% for the motion, and a turnout of 5.7% of voters (which is similar to the micromobility referendum turnout numbers). Now parking fees for bloated vehicles will triple. 

Palmo closed down. Good luck on your next venture Rytis!

Walmart hired a new Transportation Development Director - James Reed - who was the COO of Kodiak.