Tier raises $250mn for micro-mobility electric scooters

Berlin, Germany-based Tier is a so-called micro-mobility company offering electric scooter ride-sharing services.

With countries in Europe increasingly open to electric scooters as a way to solve traffic in city centres, Tier looks set to build on its existing base of 60,000 scooters across 80 cities. The company’s scooters are unlocked via an app, and can be dropped off anywhere for other users to pick up.

The sector has been hard hit, however, by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with fellow player Lime laying off 13% of staff back in April.

Bucking that trend, Tier has just announced a $250mn Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with the participation of Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital, White Star Capital, Novator and RTP Global. The funding builds on a further $131mn raised over four rounds since its 2018 foundation.

In a press release, CEO and co-founder Lawrence Leuschner, said: “After achieving profitability with our e-scooters, we have in place the foundations to lead the way towards seamless and sustainable mobility. Our vision is a completely new way of how we will move in cities in the future: all electric, shared and affordable, and with different vehicles powered by one energy network. Together with, city and national government, we will build the best solutions to ensure safe, highly efficient, and sustainable movement from A to B.”

The news of SoftBank’s investment comes on the heels of the company releasing its financial results for Q2 of 2020, which included a $5bn profit on investments in the aforementioned Vision Fund 2.

Yanni Pipilis, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: “Micro-mobility fills a large gap left by traditional urban car usage and presents a viable alternative to legacy transit systems. TIER has a proven track record in establishing long standing partnerships with cities and regulators, combined with a technology-led approach to develop leading customer propositions. We are pleased to support Lawrence and his team in building on this success.”

(Image: Tier)