People 🧑🤝🧑
People section is still with us - but has moved to its new space - below, between Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡ and Flying cars 🚁.
Ride-Hailing & Taxi, Buses & DRT 🚙🚐
MaaS Global, maker of Whim, was acquired by umob. MaaS Global was active in Vienna, Antwerp, Helsinki, Turku, Tokyo, Birmingham and throughout Switzerland when it declared bankruptcy in mid-March. Now umob will take over.
Tesla teases with a peak to its planned autonomous-operated ride-hailing app. It mostly looks like a ride-hailing app, with riders able to control climate and music. Musk plans for the AV operations to be both Tesla managed and 3rd party fleet managed.
Shesha, South Africa's first e-hailing app built in collaboration with the taxi industry, is due to launch May 1st. Taxi-backed consumer apps usually experience hardships, because they tend to focus on the supply side, not investing the marketing funds needed to build a consumer brand, i.e. generate demand. To be continued.
Kgosigadi Rides is an all-female ride-hailing service in South Africa. Kgosigadi is “Queen” in Setswana language. This type of venture, an all women operation, has been tried before as a stand-alone product, with little success.
Swat Mobility raises $7.2M to accelerate Asian expansion drive. ComfortDelGro and Gojek partner in Singapore to take on each other’s unfulfilled ride bookings (a cross-dispatch partnership). Kakao to introduce a new driver commission rate of 2.8%, down from 4-5% today. This follows criticism from the government over monopolistic practices by Kakao. Bolt is subsidising adoption of electric-powered motorcycles in Kenya, partnering with financing company M-Kopa. Uride expands in Canada. Uber Canada and Kinto partner to offer drivers zero-emission vehicle rentals. Yandex launches a business service in Uzbekistan. Ola will use the ONDC to allow customers to shop for groceries and apparel, adding to the current food & beverages offer. Alto launches first EV fleet, in Dallas.
SkedGo’s new feature - enabling pedestrians walking at night to see how much of their journey home is covered by street lighting and CCTV.
BusUp developed an AI algorithm to optimise routes. Today the company has 2,500 daily services with 55,000 passengers and 170 operators.
ioki wins a tender in Schleswig-Holstein, that will see operations grow from 10 vehicles to 500 in 2027. The Routing Company launches in Suisun City, California. Roger French looks at four new DRT developments in his usual balanced view.
David Risher, Lyft’s CEO, in his shareholder letter, summing his 1st year at the helm. Risher focuses on the company’s “On-Time Pickup Promise”, on “Women+ Connect” and on the “Driver Earnings Commitment” achievements.
Car Sharing/renting 🚗
In Montreal, Communauto to add 1,100 vehicles to its fleet. Of those, 900 are station-based and 200 are flex. This will bring Communauto’s total fleet in the city to 4,800 vehicles. The company is also investing in its “station zone” service, a hybrid between station-based and flex operations.
SnappCar, Netherlands P2P car-sharing, fully acquired by AutoBinck Group. AutoBinck has been a shareholder since 2011.
Spanish Amovens, P2P rental and leasing company, achieved roughly €2M in revenue in 2023 and reached profitability.
Hertz is trying to offload some 30,000 EVs after the company’s failed attempt to transition to electric. Monthly depreciation costs per vehicle is $592, an unusually high amount in the rental business, caused also by decreasing EV prices.
Micromobility 🚲🛴
nextbike sold by Tier to STAR Capital, a PE. In 2023, nextbike’s 115,000 bikes across 300 cities created 45 million rides and brought in €59.3M revenue.
In 2023, Cooltra, motorcycle rental company, made €45M revenue and €7M in EBITDA. The B2C segment accounted for €31M of revenue, or roughly 70%; B2B for €14M / 30%. The past year was a busy one for Cooltra, with the company acquiring French competitor Cityscoot and merging with Dutch player Felyx.
Special: Q-delivery 🌪️❌
Getir quits Europe and US. Let that sink in, although it was expected. Europe includes the UK, Netherlands and Germany. Obviously, Gorillas brand is gone too. Interestingly, Getir said its non-Turkish business was accounting for only 7% of its revenues, which to me means that either their business outside Turkey was insanely minuscule or that Turkey is bringing in incredible volumes. In Europe alone, more than 3,500 people are going to be let go. A new funding round, raised by existing investors, will allow the company to close shop and focus on the Turkish home market. The future of n11, a Turkish online shopping platform, is uncertain.
Also just before the Getir news, Flink completed a raise of €100M to extend its runway and try to outlast its competitors. It seems “mission accomplished”. The company is said to be in merger negotiations, so possibly a tie up with one of the “regular” delivery players, such as JET.
In India things are different - Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit eclipses core food business in value, so says Goldman Sachs. The bank forsees growth in the Indian q-commerce market, and for Blinkit to achieve EBITDA breakeven in Q2/2024.
Delivery 🍽🧺
JET publishes a disappointing Q1/24 report and leaves New Zealand. Good performance in UK&I and in Northern Europe was upset by disappointing performance in North America, Southern Europe and ANZ. Guidance for 2024: €450M Adjusted-EBITDA + FCF positive.
Delivery Hero publishes positive Q1/24 report: GMV grew 8% and revenue 21% YoY, gross profit grew to 7.7%. Guidance for 2024: ±€750M Adjusted-EBITDA + FCF positive.
Meituan to expand into Saudi Arabia via its KeeTa service. This will be the company’s 1st international market. Expect a subsidy war in Riyadh.
Gopuff launches Powered by Gopuff, a B2B offering for direct-to-consumer (D2C) delivery. Brands will be able to use Gopuff’s courier network and operational excellence to deliver to their customers, in a delivery white label solution. Gopuff partners with Misfits Market for grocery items. Grubhub partners with online marketplace Mercato to expand grocery offerings.
Zomato is testing a new feature, allowing customers to pay extra to be delivered faster. Zomato increases platform fee by 25% to ₹5. Back in August the fee was ₹2 per order. Zomato launches large order fleet, designed to handle all your large (group/party/event) orders, for orders by up to 50 consumers.
Kenya orders Glovo and Uber Eats to open physical offices to handle customer complaints. Wolt now lets customers order from two different places at once, with one delivery fee.
Zipline completes 1 million deliveries - video. Amazon is shutting down its drone delivery service in California and launching a new one in Arizona.
New York Times read on Ghost Kitchens - those are disappearing, squeezed by dine-in demand and quality complaints.
Swiggy receives shareholders approval for a $1.25 billion IPO. Valuation is circa $12 billion.
Autonomous & remote-driving 🤖℡
Waymo begins robotaxi testing in Atlanta. Didi aims for 1 million robotaxis on its platform by 2030. Easymile partners with Rocsys to integrate hands-free charging for electric vehicles to Easymile’s AVs. eVersum and ZF Group partner to launch AD-enabled eShuttles. Aurora’s trucks reached speeds of 75 mph (120 km/ph) on test tracks. Beep launches electric autonomous shuttle at Honolulu airport.
Musk is in China, discussing the potential rollout of Full Self-Driving (FSD) software in the country.
GM is considering outside investment for its Cruise operation. Cruise, in a downsized version for now, still is expected to cost $1.7 billion this year. It has been six months since the accident that halted Cruise’s operations.
Tesla cuts price of Full Self-Driving software by a third to $8,000, bringing the one-time cost in par with the recently reduced subscription service.
Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free driver assist under investigation after two fatal crashes. Tesla Autopilot feature was involved in 13 fatal crashes, US regulator says, finding "critical safety gap". Over 2 million Tesla vehicles are subject to a new NHTSA probe. A Twitter analysis. Six Waymo robotaxis block traffic to San Francisco freeway on-ramp. A Waymo drives on the worng side as it attempts to avoid pesky cyclists. Self-driving cars are banned in British Columbia for anything L3 or above.
AI can’t fly solo: the imperative of AI/human teaming with Missy Cummings. Video.
People 🧑🤝🧑
Keith Kelly is the new Senior Business Development Manager @ Appyway. Joshua Biondi is the new Business Expansion Manager @ Drivania Chauffeurs. Daniel Barthuly is the new Head of B2B I Business Travel @ Freenow. Tim Callaghan is the new Head of Commercial FP&A @ Zeelo. Soledad Roybal is the new Director of Public Policy @ Getaround. Andrés Chamarro Santiuste is the new Go To Market Manager Spain @ Getaround. Jarno Pajunen is the new Head of Vendors and Fleet Management @ Secto Automotive. Gerardo Interiano is the new SVP of Government Relations and Public Affairs @ Aurora. Melissa McCaffrey is the new Head of Government Affairs, State and Local @ Archer. Alvaro Ramis is the new Head of Global Strategy and Americas Region - SCALAR @ ZF Group. James Towleis the new Service Line Director @ JLR. Vincent Raynor is the new Strategic Relationships & Client Consulting Manager @ Ford Pro. Moez Jomâa updated on his Founder & CEO position @ Infinite Mobility.
Tina Mörch-Pierre is the new VP of Strategy & Special Projects @ DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit). David Frazier is the new Senior Director, State and Local Legislative Affairs @ the MTA.
Anders Bengtsson is a new Board Member @ Gröna Mobilister. Gustavo Markier is a new Strategic Advisor @ Travelier. Scott Shepard is a new advisor @ Fynch Mobility.
DM me if I missed your new role (still learning how to work with LinkedIn’s new algorithm) and you’d like to be mentioned in next week’s edition of #movingpeople.
Flying cars 🚁
Skyports, vertiport developer and drone services operator, raised £88.6M / $110M in Series C, bringing total investment to $143M.
Joby partners with Abu Dhabi to establish electric air taxi ecosystem, for inner and intercity flights. Also, Archer selects Abu Dhabi as first international eVTOL launch market. Archer aims to start electric air taxi trials in India next year. Lilium starts production of high-performance battery packs for Lilium Jet.
OEMs 🛺⚡️
Fisker warns investors in SEC filing it could seek bankruptcy protection within 30 days, as cash reserves continue to shrink. The company is currently in talks with four automakers for a buyout.
Tesla: cuts global workforce by 10%, roughy 14,000 people. Brings back affordable EV plans, as soon as 2025. Cuts car prices. Publishes disappointing Q1/24 financial results, missing revenue expectations and dropped net income by 55%, to $1.13 billion.
Ford losses $132,000 for each EV sold. Losses are attributed to R&D costs and investment, but those are not going to materially decrease in the coming years.
Gig economy 💰
Kazakhstan regulates gig-working; workers will start paying 4% tax and receive social contributions.
Uber and Lyft are working together - asking the US Supreme Court to stop litigation by states attorneys general, from consumer protection and unfair competition litigation to anti discrimination suits - for seeking monetary relief for anyone who signed an arbitration agreement. TBC. Still in the US, Republican senators are looking into Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub practices, demanding to know what steps they are taking to prevent illegal immigrants from unlawfully working for them.
Uber Eats riders in Brussels to go on strike for better pay and conditions. Riders want increase in pay that will even out inflation, which have risen by over 20% since 2019. In Belgium, riders are categorised as employees.
In other news 📰
Serve Robotics goes public on the Nasdaq - raising ±$40M. Swerve plans to generate circa $70M in revenue and become positive cash flow by the end of 2025. Interestingly, a big portion of the company’s revenue, 25-50%, will come from ads.
World’s 10 busiest airports - Atlanta leads; 5/10 are in the US.
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