Insights and news from the ATOM Mobility team

“Being small allows Go Green City to be responsive and offer solutions tailored to a particular environment. Flexibility and agility are our advantages and that's why I wanted a software partner with the same qualities” – Jose Tavares, the founder and CEO of Go Green City, explains why he chose to partner with ATOM Mobility. 

Launch date: August 2021
Country: Switzerland
Fleet size: 200 e-mopeds
Web page: https://go-greencity.ch
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/ch/app/id1583947739 
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ggc.app 

Jose began building Go Green City, a Swiss electric moped sharing company, with another well-known software provider on the market. Still, he quickly grew disillusioned after experiencing delays in communication and a generally passive attitude. Moving quickly is a key advantage of starting a new enterprise, and being held back by outside parties was unacceptable. This became clear early on in Jose's journey, when he was still just validating the viability of his solution. 

“The initial partner company was just too big and took too long to react,” explains Jose. “I wanted a partner that can match my pace and with whom I could establish strong foundations for a long-term partnership.” 

After tasking his son with finding an alternative provider, Go Green City quickly landed with ATOM Mobility as it met Jose's criteria – professional, responsive, and not too big. The two companies have been working together ever since, with a shared outlook toward the future, and, as they say, the rest is history.

It's not about getting from A to B, but rather from B to C

For Jose, Go Green City is about giving back. Having had a career in the automotive industry for most of his life, Jose wanted to create something that improves the lives of city folk and helps the environment. An electric alternative for urban last-mile mobility is his answer. 

“We considered and tested electric car sharing and scooters, before landing on mopeds. The problem I wanted to solve was to get people from B to C. Not A to B, because I would compete against public transport and create more traffic and congestion. I firmly believe that public transport is the best and greenest solution that should serve as the backbone of urban transit,” says Jose. “That's why I'm focusing on a last-mile solution. My goal is to get people into the bus and then onto the electric moped, rather than replace the bus.” 

Go Green City started operating in 2022 and today its 200 e-mopeds have done over 120,000 km inside the city with zero emissions. But for Jose, that's just the beginning. Looking to grow his fleet more than tenfold and launch next year in Portugal, Jose is steadily carving out his place in urban mobility through smart partnerships and sheer grit. 

A one-man army

Jose has built Go Green City from the ground up almost single-handedly. Up until now, the company's operations were virtually 100% outsourced, save for the considerable efforts of Jose himself. “I've done my job when I can go on a vacation and everything runs smoothly without me,” Jose shares. 

Today, Go Green City demands around 2 hours of Jose's time a day, but this is the result of 5 years of hard work and long nights. “To be a good leader, even to freelancers, you have to know every nook and cranny of the business and have to be willing to do the hard work yourself. You can't ask more of others than you do of yourself.”

Over the years, there have been a lot of hiccups – from vehicle hacks to delivery problems due to the Suez canal's blockage – but having trusted partners at your side and extensive industry knowledge helped Jose navigate all the ups and downs right up until the launch and beyond.  

The launch of Go Green City happened without much fanfare. The idea was to launch smoothly and quietly, to avoid antagonizing competition and give citizens the opportunity to discover the advantages of Go Green City themselves. It was a tremendous success that was quickly amplified further through word-of-mouth marketing. 

People were eager to engage with the new and convenient e-mopeds and became loyal customers once they discovered that it was the cheapest mobility option available. This also encouraged people to share feedback, all of which was quickly managed on the other end by Jose himself to further improve the service and foster a sense of community. 

“I wanted people to feel heard and make them feel like a part of the business. That's why I always ended my communications with 'Thank you for being part of our club'  and that really resonated with people.”

Nuggets of wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs

After an illustrious 30-year career in the automotive industry and a strong start with Go Green City, Jose's advice to future entrepreneurs is “don't talk, just do it”. Don't tell people where you are going, but announce when you've arrived. 

“Sharing your plans and ambitions will only make people question you and you'll spend a lot of energy and time arguing and justifying yourself to friends, family, and partners,” explains Jose. “Sometimes, don't even tell your wife”. 

“People have amazing ideas and initiatives, but they seek validation and support from acquaintances who can never really give you what you need. Usually, they just make you question yourself. Instead, just do it. Try. Even if you fail, the most important thing is that you've learned and you'll do better next time,” concludes Jose. 

Thanks to an alignment in business philosophies, ATOM Mobility and Go Green City collaborate like a well-oiled machine. And Jose can continue his entrepreneurial mission of improving the lives of travelers and contributing to the well-being of the environment.

When it comes to the future of e-scooter sharing, there are some pretty conflicting opinions out there. Some say it's the future of micromobility, others are less optimistic.

Ultimately, the success of scooter operators all depends on their ability to find profitability.

Let's be honest – this industry has higher-than-average overhead costs. The hardware itself is a major investment, and profits are further seeped by the maintenance workforce, storage, relocation costs, and new regulatory requirements that are regularly introduced.

But profitability is possible. 

We spoke to Heiko Hildebrandt, co-founder of Bullride, which helps mobility companies offload their assets from their balance sheet to keep them in the black. 

The state of the scooter industry – hopeful

The economy is just starting to stabilize as we exit the Covid slump and enter the new normal. How did Covid affect the micromobility sphere?

A study published in Bloomberg found that monthly ridership fell drastically in 2021, but made a comeback in 2022 when people returned to office.

Source: Bloomberg

Now, that's using US-based brands as a model.

Heiko Hildebrandt shares that the scooter operators he's worked with have experienced a similar effect:

“Corona was the greatest fuel you could pour onto the micromobility fire. During Corona times, people hardly used public transport, and most people switched to scooters. We saw two of the biggest micromobility brands in Europe, Bolt and Tier, raise record-setting VC investment at the end of 2021 – totaling 1.4B EUR – a clear sign of traction. And since Covid has ended, we've seen a 30%-40% slump in demand. So was Covid bad for business? Not according to my perspective.”

However, according to Heiko, the real challenge is to make the unit economics work. Because the question is not about whether the product is in demand. The question is does it make sense from a business perspective. 

The challenges the scooter industry faces

The scooter industry, while in demand, must face challenges that directly impact their unit economics. For some businesses, it pushes them over the edge and drives them into insolvency. 

By knowing what those challenges are, scooter businesses can better set up their business models to protect their profitability. 

Rising hardware costs

In order for a scooter's lifetime to be profitable, it has to be in use for at least 2 seasons – some even say, for 4 years. That means that the scooter has to be durable, easily maintained, with cost-efficient replacement parts. 

“Scooters are usually imported from abroad (mostly China), and shipping costs are now 8x higher than they were two years ago. The costs of electronics components are ever increasing.”

Jürgen Sahtel, Manager of the ATOM Vehicle Marketplace, agrees that the prices have gone up over the past two years. 

“For example, hardware prices for the new Segway models have increased more than 40% over the last 16 months. And this trend is across all manufacturers – new scooters could be obtained starting from 650EUR and up, while more advanced models readily available in EU are priced at around 1000EUR per unit.”

The hardware is one of the biggest up-front investments that a scooter operator faces. But it's also critical to balance cost with quality, as you need to be so resilient that it can withstand public use over the course of 2-4 years. 

Expanding regulation

When the e-scooter sharing industry took off, the industry was so fresh that there wasn't any regulation in place to keep it in check. It was the wild west, and operators were able to take advantage of the regulatory grey area. 

Now, municipalities are starting to crack down on the industry and putting laws into place. Regulation, overall, is a good thing. However, the way it's done now shows a lack of understanding about the unit economics and its regulation that is being enacted.

“Most municipalities are limiting the size of a fleet that one scooter competitor can have. Their goal is to reduce the amount of scooter clutter on the streets. But that number is often too low to ensure what we call “natural floating” – the process of humans moving the scooters around the city. This puts a larger strain on relocation and charging teams.”

Other burdens placed on scooter brands is the stricter demarcation of allowable parking zones. This is a factor that impacts relocation teams – those responsible for bringing scooters from less popular zones back to city centers and transport hubs. Additionally, mandatory tenders with the municipality are usually offered only for one year, making planning rather difficult.

A new trend that Heiko mentions seeing from a regulatory perspective is the emergence of mandatory insurance. 

“Scooters used to be classified as bikes, and thus, similarly regulated. Now, they're being reclassified as motored vehicles, which have different regulatory requirements, including mandatory insurance.” 

This further skews the unit economics of each ride.

On the other hand, regulation can also play an enabling factor. Heiko shares that if tenders could be extended for, say, 3 years, it could provide scooter brands with planning stability. If municipalities limited only 2 competitors in a city, this would ensure enough demand to make the unit economics work.

Finding profitability in unlikely places – Bullride's unique business model

Heiko believes that the future lies in the shared economy. He's among the 4 co-founders of Bullride, an investment platform that shoulders the burden of the hardware investment and splits the scooter rent with the operating brand.

How does it work? 

1. The Bullride platform crowdfunds the costs of the initial scooter investment. These people become your investors. Instead of giving away equity (ownership) of your company, they end up “owning” one of your scooters (1 scooter = 1,000 EUR). 
2. The order is made into one of the top scooter manufacturers that have the best longevity – Bullride does this for you.
3. You split the rental income – 55% for you, 30% for investors, 15% for Bullride.

The idea works for a number of reasons. 

1. You'll need money. A bank is unlikely to fund a scooter venture (because of historically low profitability), and a VC will ask for equity. This way, you get the investment, while retaining full control.
2. Bullride has very specific requirements. They know what works, and what doesn't. They only work together with entrepreneurs that meet their very strict requirements. That includes entering a city that has no more than 2 competitors, and a city that has no more than 100,000 inhabitants. 30,000 is the ideal sweetspot. You also only have one employee – and that's you. 

The operating brand then may use a leading vehicle-sharing platform ATOM Mobility, to fast-track their time to market. ATOM takes profitability even further with its unique pricing model. Instead of the common model of cost-per-vehicle, ATOM uses a cost-per-ride model. That means that if you have less demand (and as a result, less income) in a certain month, then you pay less for use of the ATOM platform. 

But scooter sharing is just the beginning. This same model, Heiko believes, can be applied to e-bikes, e-scooters, carsharing, even wind turbines and major investments like that. Why shouldn't a community be able to jointly invest in and co-own the infrastructure that they need to live? 

This is a unique model that hasn't been commonly seen elsewhere. It's more than just scooters – Bullride believes that at the heart of it, what they're doing is democratizing asset ownership.

If you're looking to launch or scale your own vehicle-sharing business, contact the ATOM Mobility team to learn more abut this opportunity.

The venture building program ATOM Mobility Hub is run by technology company ATOM Mobility in close cooperation with innovation management company Helve to help ambitious entrepreneurs build mobility ventures from zero. ATOM Mobility Hub is the first accelerator designed for new entrepreneurs with no IT knowledge and tech skills with the ambition to start vehicle sharing, ride-hailing or on-demand delivery businesses. Applications for the venture-building program are open to any talented entrepreneur until September 13. 

The nine-week online acceleration program is created to support aspiring entrepreneurs and mobility professionals in launching their next mobility venture in three verticals - shared mobility, ride-hailing, or on-demand delivery. The program will take place from October to December and under the guidance of experienced mentors from companies such as Adyen, Funderbeam, Movmi, and EIT Urban Mobility and many others, the participants will work on ideation and goal setting, market exploration, product building, sales and marketing, as well as road-mapping. At the end of ATOM Mobility Hub, the participants will be ready to launch their Minimum Viable Product (MVP), face investors, both attracted by the program and not, to pitch their new venture concepts to attract investment, and start their mobility businesses.   

“For us at ATOM Mobility, the mission is to help talented entrepreneurs launch and scale their businesses in the mobility space. We see that some very talented founders and startups have limited access to the necessary technology, expertise, and funding. We have created ATOM Mobility Hub to solve this exact challenge. As the technology is expensive and developing it takes time, with this program, we can help to speed up the process and act as a technology partner,” states Arturs Burnins, the founder and CEO at ATOM Mobility.

The total prize fund of the accelerator exceeds 30 000 EUR in technology and business support and will be split among the strongest teams at the end of the programme. In addition to ATOM Mobility's software, the teams ready to innovate will also compete to receive prizes from such accelerator partners as Adyen, Funderbeam, Fluctuo, Sumsub, ACTON, Movmi, and Knot, all to facilitate the launch of their businesses as well as help with attracting external funding.

In photo: Marija Ručevska, Partner and Founder at Helve, and Jurgen Sahtel, Partnerships Manager at ATOM Mobility

"Venture building programs like ATOM Mobility Hub enable teams to efficiently build startups with the support they need right at the early stages. Founders have access not only to experienced mentors-founders but also directly to mobility professionals with industry experience and learnings to pass on. The global mobility market in 2021 was estimated at almost $40 billion, with an expected annual growth rate of 25%. This indicates great potential for program participants to continue what they started and develop their startups into strong market players after the program," reveals Marija Ručevska, founder and partner at Helve.

ATOM Mobility and Helve invite any talented entrepreneurs to apply for the program with their idea either individually or as a team. The applications are open until September 13, the online program will kick off on October 3 and conclude on December 14 with a demo day event. More information about ATOM Mobility Hub and the application form can be found on the program website

Having a great business idea is rarely enough – you also need money to get the ball rolling. But what if you don't have tens of thousands just laying around to bootstrap your business? Or don't want to go the traditional way and attract VC funding in exchange for a large number of company shares?

This is where many founders choose to crowdfund.

Crowdfunding is a way of raising money for your business from a large number of people through online platforms. In 2000, ArtistShare became the first dedicated crowdfunding platform, and since then, crowdfunding has become one of the top funding sources for businesses, with the global market estimated to reach $300 billion by 2030.

If you're looking to fund your vehicle-sharing business, crowdfunding might be one of the options. It can not only help you attract money but also test your business idea in the first place. After all, if enough people are ready to back your idea, it's a clear sign it has a place in the market.

Screenshot from www.funderbeam.com crowdfunding platform.

Types of crowdfunding platforms & their investors

For your vehicle-sharing business, there are three main types of crowdfunding to consider – rewards, debt, and equity. Let's take a closer look at each of them!

Rewards

This is considered the “traditional” type of crowdfunding and is currently the most popular. The idea is simple – people contribute to a business idea, expecting to receive a reward, such as products or services, at a later stage.

Platforms for rewards-based crowdfunding (few examples):

• Kickstarter
• Indiegogo

Who are the backers?

Regular people with little or no experience in investing; early adopters – people who embrace new things before most other people do. Generally, these people invest because they truly believe in the idea and want to help it come to life, as well as because they just want to be the first in the world to receive the product.

Best for:

Businesses at early stages – idea or early development. Rewards crowdfunding is also for established businesses looking to launch a new product or expand to new markets.

Debt

Debt-based crowdfunding – also known as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending – means that the crowd lends money to a company, which it needs to repay with interest by a certain deadline. The idea is similar to borrowing a loan from a bank, except that in this case, there are many lenders instead of one.

Platforms for debt-based crowdfunding (few examples):

• LendingClub
• Honeycomb Credit

Who are the lenders?

Lenders that support companies via debt-based crowdfunding are individual investors looking to earn a higher profit on their cash savings and/or diversify their portfolio. These investors care about two things – whether the company will be able to repay the loan and how much they'll earn in interest payments. Everything else is secondary.

Best for:

Companies with a stable revenue that can more or less accurately predict their cash flow to repay their lenders. Generally, this is for companies at different stages when they've started to make a profit.

Equity

Equity-based crowdfunding allows businesses to give away a portion of their company to a number of investors in exchange for investment. Investors receive shares in the company based on how much money they've contributed.

Typically, equity-based crowdfunding is done in a way that first, the crowdfunding platform takes the company's equity, then sells the shares on their platform.

Platforms for equity-based crowdfunding (few examples):

• Funderbeam
• Seedrs

Who are the investors?

Typically, these are quite seasoned investors with experience in stock and/or startup investments who are now looking for higher-risk, higher-yield investments. These people might be less interested in the idea or cause behind the business and more in its potential future growth and profits.

Best for:

Businesses at all growth stages, except for the exit/acquisitions stage.

How much can you expect to raise with crowdfunding?

How much a successful crowdfunding campaign raises can differ greatly depending on the stage of your business and the type of crowdfunding you've chosen.

For example, according to the equity-based crowdfunding platform Seedrs, businesses with MVPs usually raise between €30k and €50k, whereas early-stage businesses – between €50k and €250k. 

In the meantime, on Kickstarter, the rewards-based crowdfunding platform, the majority of successfully funded projects raise less than $10k. Tech products typically raise between €20k and €100k.

How about vehicle-sharing businesses? Here are two successful examples:

• Electric bike-sharing company Mobi raised €794,891 on Spark Crowdfunding.
• Scooter-sharing startup tretty raised €62,635 from 170 backers with their rewards-based crowdfunding campaign via StartNext.
• Bike and scooter sharing company Frog Mobility raised €138,814 – 40% of their set funding goal – via equity crowdfunding platform Spark Crowdfunding.
• Mount, a PaaS for Airbnb hosts to offer shared vehicles to their guests, raised $133,460 via WeFunder.

To start a bike-sharing or scooter-charing business with 40 vehicles, you should aim for at least €40k. This is doable with all types of crowdfunding models if done right.

Now, let's see what “right” means and how to make your crowdfunding campaign a success.

How to succeed with your crowdfunding campaign

A successful crowdfunding campaign can help you get your business off the ground and raise even more funds than you had expected. The harsh reality, however, is this: as many as 85% of crowdfunding campaigns fail and never reach their set goal.

To increase your chances of a successful crowdfunding campaign here's your basic to-do list:

• Choose the right platform

This depends on your funding goal, the stage of your business, the type of your product, and even your target market. For example, AppBackr is an app-specific crowdfunding platform, StartNext is for products for the German market, while Kickstarter is only available to creators in 25 countries.

• Understand your investors

People backing projects on Kickstarter vs Funderbeam can differ greatly. For example, on Kickstarter, people are more interested in the “coolness” of the product, whereas investors funding companies via debt-based or equity-based crowdfunding platforms care more about the company's projected growth and cash flow, and the money this investment is going to make them. Keep this in mind when crafting your pitch!

• Start preparing early

One of the key secrets to launching a successful crowdfunding campaign is investing heavily in pre-campaign lead generation. Start building a community and an email list of supporters as early as you can – these people will give your campaign the necessary first push to succeed. You should aim to collect 30% of your funding goal within the first week – then, the campaign is likely to reach the goal. 

• Craft a compelling pitch

Good storytelling is the key to your campaign's success, no matter who your investors are. That said, the stories they want to hear differ. For a reward-based campaign, craft a story around your product that evokes emotions – make people laugh, help them imagine themselves with your product, or be angry about the issue it's going to solve. For an equity-based campaign, you should focus more on highlighting your team's strengths, market knowledge, and long-term vision.

• A range of rewards

Apart from an option to buy your product, it's recommended to include some lower-priced options for people who just want to support you. For example:

• Weekly or monthly subscriptions to your service
• Free credits to use your service
• Ad space on your product 
• Partnership packages
• Priority delivery of the product or access to the service
• Product accessories
• Guided city tours

Other things that can help you launch a successful crowdfunding campaign include:

• Professional visuals – this is essential for making a good first impression
• Videos – they help issuers earn 105% more
• Posting regular updates – those boost your chances of raising 126% more
• Data and stats that make you look reliable – previous successful projects, business traction, existing customer reviews, and testimonials
• Social media presence – when you share your project on social media platforms, your probability of success increases. For example, if you share to 100 or 1,000 followers, the probability of success increases by 20% and 40%, respectively.

To conclude

One of the biggest mistakes founders make is assuming that it's enough to have their campaign launched on the chosen crowdfunding platform, and people will come and invest in it. 

The reality, however, is this:

A successful campaign requires a lot of work outside the crowdfunding platform – you need to proactively and systematically look for supporters and persuade them to invest. So, to improve your chances of succeeding, start preparing months before the launch of the campaign.