Insights and news from the ATOM Mobility team

“Using ATOM Mobility's platform, we were able to open up our taxi business to an entirely different target market  – younger people. We've been able to offer a more simplified booking process to continue offering quality service to our customers, which is our guiding principle.” - Jamal, Founder and CEO of Vift

Experience in the taxi business: 6 years
Country: Sweden
Web page: https://viftmobility.com
App store: https://apps.apple.com/vn/app/vift/id1631027113
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vift.app

As engineering students in the Swedish city of Örebro, just west of Stockholm, the Zindi brothers saw market demand and decided to launch their own taxi company. Starting six years ago, the business has grown to account for 8% of the local taxi market, attracting a higher-end clientele. 

One year ago, founder and CEO Jamal Zindi was looking for opportunities to further grow his business. At the time, Vift operated as a classical taxi company – based on receiving phone calls and dispatching drivers. By using the ATOM Mobility platform, he was able to launch his own dedicated mobile app, which clients could use to directly order and pay for their taxis. 

The effect of digitising his business was immediate – Jamal shares that they have received a considerable boost to business, as it opens the door to a new target audience. He shares that human behaviour regarding booking has changed. Many young people don't like picking up the phone to make a taxi booking, or people sitting in meetings aren't able to make a call. Having an app to offer makes all the difference.

Quality as a North Star

Jamal shares that throughout all of his journey as an entrepreneur, his guiding principle has always been to offer the best possible quality to clients. 

“In the services sector, it's not about who offers it cheaper, it's who serves their clients better. We offer better cars, better drivers, better customer experience. If you do it better, people will be willing to pay a premium,” explains Jamal.

In the early days, Vift's differentiating factor was an improved experience. They, and their drivers, were from an academic background. They were younger than most taxi drivers in Örebro at the time, which Jamal considered an advantage. They were able to bring an improved customer experience to their clients, which was appreciated. 

They aren't in a hurry to expand in size or geography. Jamal emphasises that they're looking to build a solid foundation and only then expand upon that.

“We don't want to start with too many cars. Our strategy is to build up the business in stages. Because if the foundation is strong, you will not fall. Once you have a system in place, it's easier to go to other cities.”

Vift has its own fleet of cars, and, using the ATOM Mobility platform, it can now onboard other drivers onto its platform. Though they're not in a hurry – they're establishing quality first and then will look beyond their borders.

Locally-owned as a key differentiator

The city of Örebro does not lack in its fair share of taxi sharing apps. They have Bolt, Uber, and others. But what Vift can offer and Uber can't, is hyper-local customer service – both for drivers and for end-customers.

“There are Bolt and Uber, they drive very cheaply. But the management and owners are not in Sweden. So if you have a question, you won't receive a response that fully understands your situation. People appreciate that we're from Sweden, that they can contact us, and that they can receive a response in their own language,” comments Jamal.

Using their competitive advantage, they believe that in just 2 years, they will be the biggest company in Örebro. And after that, they'll replicate their experience in other cities, still based on quality-over-quantity.

The secret to surviving in the taxi business – thinking 10 years ahead

One thing that sets Vift apart from traditional taxi services is their future-oriented mindset. Jamal shares that when making business decisions, he thinks about what will be relevant in 5-10 years' time. This way, he's able to stay ahead of the competition, and relevant to his customers.

One way this comes across is in the vehicles they choose. 

“Right now, all of our cars are hybrid. But very soon we'll be switching to a fully electric vehicle fleet. It's the better choice – for business, for the environment. That is where mobility is heading, and that's where we have to be as well.”

When asked about his tips for other entrepreneurs looking to start their own taxi business, Jamal stays true to his values:

“Constant development. Professional standards. Work with the heart. Quality is what matters. Consider the future – if you only do things for today, then you'll fall down.” 

Through working together, Vift has significantly increased its demand and revenue. Laying the strong foundation for digital services, Vift can now continue to build out the business and reach its goals of dominating the local market and expanding past its borders.

Learn more about ATOM Mobility ride-hailing and taxi platform here: https://ride.atommobility.com

Back in August, together with innovation management company Helve, we launched the open call for ATOM Mobility Lab, a FREE venture-building / accelerator program helping ambitious entrepreneurs to build mobility companies from ZERO in just 9 weeks. Along with October, comes the beginning of our 9-week program. Out of more than 100 applications, we have selected 12 teams from 11 countries developing various shared mobility, ride-hailing, and on-demand services. It's about time you meet them!

Aver Mobility (Bulgaria) 🇧🇬

The utilitarian approach to shared mobility.

Aver Mobility is a car sharing company that’s involved in solving urban mobility challenges. Their mission is widening the adoption of shared mobility with greener means of transportation in Eastern Europe without requiring anyone to step out of their cars. As we all know the personal car is an irreplaceable limb for the average Eastern European. Aver Mobility knows that they couldn't influence that. They don’t want to do so, either. They want to step on that assumption but make it greener. The company will launch with a 100% EV fleet in Sofia (Bulgaria) and plans on replicating the same utilitarian approach while exporting the operational model in the rest of Eastern Europe.

ChargeM (Germany) 🇩🇪

All-inclusive Shared Micro-Mobility System for A2A models

ChargeM provides an end-to-end solution for you guests, employees, and tenants: E-Scooter, wireless charging station, app, labeling, and operations. The company allows locations to passively provide an extra mobility solution to profit from every ride.The system comes with a wireless charging infrastructure for shared e-scooters to significantly reduce costs for collecting/ swapping and recharging of the vehicles. Their automated charging solution will allow providers to reach profitability sooner and make micromobility more sustainable - ecologically, economically, and socially. 

Dodai (Ethiopia) 🇪🇹

Affordable mobility ownership in Ethiopia

Dodai is an asset financing platform that offers underbanked customers access to life-enhancing products, and services. The company provides affordable mobility ownership for Ethiopian gig workers who intend to increase their earnings and comfort through the financing of electric two wheelers.

Drop (Romania) 🇷🇴

Electric last-mile deliveries

Drop is a one-stop-shop solution, which not only offers delivery as a solution, but covers a large range of other services such as rider supply management, operational lease and rental options for EVs and LEVs, micro fulfillment as a service, and OOH delivery.

EcoTaxi (Estonia) 🇪🇪

Safe, inclusive, and sustainable mobility

EcoTaxi is the first inclusive and sustainable logistics company in the Baltics that intends to solve emission problems by providing a platform for sustainable vehicles only. Their platform will actively reduce male to female assault by onboarding more female drivers and make accessibility easier for differently-abled persons. ExoTaxi's customers are people who care about the planet and are interested in using sustainable methods to get to wherever they need to go.

Greenclick (US) 🇺🇸

Disrupting over-the-counter desks with technology

Greenclick is scaling the on-site car rental market at hotels where >1% in the US offers car rental services out of 70k hotels. They're carving out a new car rental market by solving congestion, long lines and waiting at airports, and serving guests when all rental locations close, disrupting over-the-counter desks with technology. With their vertical, they're accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles and providing a broad consumer market with their first test drive of an electric car.

JETT (France) 🇫🇷

Rental subscription service without commitment

JETT is an e-moped rental subscription service without commitment. An easy and flexible, weekly or monthly, plan with no hidden or sign-up fees! They handle everything: insurance, maintenance, helmet, and even delivery to your doorstep! You just have to enjoy your own JETT!

MaaS in Tourism (Greece) 🇬🇷

Mobility app for tourists and citizens to use at their destination

MaaS in Tourism company’s app will integrate all the means of transport that are available in the tourist destination that will be developed with the main goal to minimize the use of cars with carbon emissions. They also want to promote the use of public transport combined with other eco-friendly mobility choices such as electric scooters or bikes. This will be a g2c/b2c product and the target group will be mostly municipalities in Greece that are tourist destinations and offer a variety of means of transport and services around mobility. The company wants to make the citizens love their city more and the tourists to enjoy their vacation in a more sustainable and fun way.

MobiEV (Egypt) 🇪🇬

Bringing micro-mobility and convenience to Egypt

MobiEV is on a mission to bring EV Micro-mobility to the Egyptian market of 100 million residents and 13 million annual tourists. Their aim is to pair convenience and pleasure into the service by strategically placing EVs servicing commercial and tourist hotspots. MobiEV will leverage technology, competitive energy prices, and 350 days of sunshine to provide sustainable shared mobility to their customers.

SHRINK Scooters (UK) 🇬🇧

The UK’s first student-run socially conscious scooter sharing platform

SHRINK Scooters are the UK’s first student-run socially conscious scooter sharing platform integrating students living in the peripherals of Durham city into university life. The company plans to involve a fleet of 30-40 scooters to begin with and are currently exchanging discourse with the University and, with the support of numerous consultants, are preparing to tackle the challenge of obtaining a license form the Council.

Sun Spirit (Latvia) 🇱🇻

Bringing sustainable water traffic to RigaSun Spirit believes that Riga has a resource that has not been properly used - the river Daugava. They want to build green, energy-powered, odorless, noiseless, modern, and sustainable traffic within the river and make it enjoyable for city residents and guests. Book on-the-go and hop-on or off whenever you want.

Swap-City (Latvia) 🇱🇻

Compact car-sharing at the lowest prices

Swap-City is a service based in Riga that specializes in electric car sharing, using only unique compact cars with swappable batteries. This makes these cars always available, never out of power. Most exterior and interior spare parts are made by a 3D printer. Light and small two-seater cars that can travel a distance of up to 150km. They bring the most compact cars, at the lowest prices!

During the next 2 months, these 12 teams will work closely together with our lead mentors Johanna Braun and Mario Gamper to successfully launch their businesses at the end of the program. The program will conclude with a demo day on December 1 (16:00 CET), during which, the teams will present their progress and business plans to a panel of jurors to battle for prizes in the value of up to 30k EUR provided by ATOM Mobility, Funderbeam, KNOT, ACTON, Fluctuo, Sumsum, and movmi.

“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.