Cityscoot concludes successful funding round to expand

Cityscoot has concluded a financing round for 23.6 million euros. With the capital increase, the French electric scooter sharing provider wants to expand into two more European cities this year and increase its fleet to a total of over 8,000 electric scooters.

Cityscoot’s existing investors participated in the financing round, which includes the French subsidiary of Allianz (also responsible for insuring the scooters), the financial investor Demeter and the mobility group RATP as well as La Banque des Territoires.

Bertrand Fleurose, CEO and Cityscoot founder said that this financing round enables the French micro-mobility startup to “be a leading player in the development of soft mobility in the heart of metropolises.” He explained: “After recently joining the Next40 club and announcing a strategic partnership with Uber, this fundraising is a new proof of confidence in our ability to continue our development.”

Allianz has backed the company since its launch in Paris in 2016. For the insurance giant, the partnership has been fruitful so far. Julien Martinez, Director of Strategy, Innovation and Mergers & Acquisitions of Allianz France, said that “from the outset, Allianz France and Cityscoot have been working hand in hand and have acquired a solid experience in the shared mobility sector”. No doubt valuable experience in a new and disruptive sector.

Since its launch in June 2016, a fleet of 7,000 electric scooters has been gradually built up in Paris and the surrounding area as well as in Nice, Milan and Rome. Barcelona will be the next European city in which Cityscoot will launch a fleet this May. The planned second city has not yet been named.

Cityscoot has gone from strength to strength. In October last year, Uber announced that it would integrate Cityscoot electric mopeds in Paris. All of the more than 4,000 electric scooters offered by Cityscoot in the French capital can now be found and booked via the Uber app.

Despite Cityscoot’s success, it must be said that micro-mobility is a turbulent new field. The German electric moped sharing company Coup (financed by Bosch) pulled the plug on its e-scooter sharing operations in November 2019. In Paris, Coup was sharing territories with Cityscoot, and Coup’s demise has allowed a brief competition gap, but only for the moment. Recently Berlin micromobility sharing company Tier Mobility announced that it would take on the electric moped scooters from Coup and expand its offer from electric kick-scooters to electric moped scooters.

cityscoot.eu (pdf)