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This week Oliver interviews Kari Anne Solfjeld Eid from Whee!  Whee is a cargo bike subscription service based in Oslo Norway. Kari Anne won this years inaugural Micromobility accelerate pitch competition that we had at the Micromobility Europe conference in June. She was selected by a group of judges as the best presenter on the day for a new Micromobility service or product. The judges noted her quirky style but also a really solid business under it.  One thing not covered in this episode was Kari Anne's low cost of acquisition and very low levels of churn that they’ve had with their subscription businesses.   Specifically they dig into: The backstory of Whee! and why it exists How the service has grown, customer expectations and unpacking ‘there is a lot of money to be made from taking women seriously' The subscription model and why it holds promise The fundraising/company building experience they’ve had to date Oliver really enjoyed this conversation and has enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Kari Anne over the last couple of months/ He has come to the realisation that we don’t include enough conversations here about Micromobility for families or women, something that we plan to do better on - If you have any ideas please message Micromobility on Twitter. If you’ve not yet heard, Micromobility America is coming up in San Francisco on the 15th and 16th of September 2022 and we are expecting over 1000 people from hundreds of companies to talk about the latest on Micromobility technology services companies and more. The Micromobility team will be up there and would love to see you there – please come and join us by getting your tickets at micromobility Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Micromobility Europe is coming to San Francisco in September 2022! Learn more and get tickets here. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This podcast was first published on our sister podcast, Infinite Block This week we're releasing a talk from our recent Micromobility Europe Conference, with Horace interviewing Azeem Azhar. Azeem is one of the great thinkers in the space of smart cities, the importance of exponential technologies like Micromobility and how they relate to governance and the social contract. You may recall that we interviewed him earlier this year. Both Horace and Azeem are big fans of each other and at the recent conference they got to sit down and really nut out the importance of the city and how it relates to Micromobility. These are the sort of conversations that we want to be having on the Infinite Block so if you have any suggested guests, please reach out to us on Twitter or email  [email protected] with ideas. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about Azeem and his involvement in micromobility here.

This week Oliver interviews Adam Barmby from EAV, the electric cargo bike manufacturer based in the UK. When Amazon launched their 'micromobility hub' in the UK recently, an EAV bike was the pictured bike used in promotional material for the announcement. Micromobility for freight hasn’t been discussed a lot on the podcast, and it was really exciting to unpack the implications of Micromobility and see how it conforms to the thesis that Horace and Oliver have been weighing out of the last couple of years. It is especially exciting to hear that EAV is fundamentally changing the business model of last mile delivery, where interestingly more than half of the cost of delivery is incurred. Adam was part of the Micromobility Accelerate pitch contest that in the recent Micromobility Europe conference in June. Specifically they tackle: The background for EAV and how it came to be founded What EAV builds, and why it matters impact of cargo vans in cities Their traction to date including recent business development deals and the sales pipeline to operators working for large ecommerce platforms. The fundraising journey so far See more of what Adam is doing within the micromobillity industry here. You can view the EAV website here Micromobility America conference coming up on the 15th and 16th of September in the Bay Area. We will have over 1000 guests from hundreds of companies talking about the future of Micromobility and how it can simultaneously help us with climate change while, disrupting the urban transport economics of cities. It’s going to be a wonderful reunion for the industry to all get together with incredible vehicles, including the Nimbus which Oliver covered in episode 141, as well as the new autonomous bike from Weel which we will be covering on a future podcast , as well as a whole heap of other really cool product announcements. Learn more and get tickets here.

This week is the release one of the episodes from recorded at the recent Micromobility Europe conference in Amsterdam in early June. This episode is the story of TIER with Lawrence Leucshner, and interviewed by Julia Thayne DeMordaunt from The Rocky Mountain Institute. TIER is now the worlds largest micromobility operator. Lawrence was a guest on the podcast very early on, back in episode 37, in August 2019. A lot has happened since then, and it really is a fascinating take with Lawrence this episode. Specifically they tackle: - How Tier started out with much less money than their competitors - The importance having a mission - How the industry has evolved and what is done well and what it hasn’t done well. You can learn more about Lawrence here and learn more about TIER on their website If you like this you will probably also really like the Micromobility America conference coming up on the 15th and 16th of September in the Bay Area. It’s going to be a wonderful reunion for many of us in the industry to all get together with incredible vehicles, including the Nimbus which Oliver covered in episode 141, as well as the new autonomous bike from Weel which we will be covering on a future podcast , as well as a whole heap of other really cool product announcements.

This week Oliver is excited to share an interview with Lihang Nong, CEO and founder of Nimbus. Nimbus recently went public with their vehicle, the Nimbus One, in a Techcrunch article. Oliver has been talking to Lihang for years and was excited to be able to interview him and bring a bit more of the story for you. We think what Nimbus is building is really really important - as you’ll hear hear, in an era of climate change, high costs of travel and urbanisation, we need lightweight electric vehicles more than ever, and what Nimbus is proposing solves a lot of the issues that folks have levelled at micromobiility to date. Specifically they tackle: - The latest announcements from Nimbus - prototypes, fundraising etc. - The history of Nimbus - Why this space is compelling. - Why small electric vehicles like Nimbus creates haven’t had a breakout hit yet - The next steps for manufacturing/scaling Learn more about Nimbus and the exciting developments they have planned on their website (try.nimbus.com) Disclosure: Oliver is an advisor to Nimbus.

This week we share an interview with Lihang Nong, CEO and founder of Nimbus. Nimbus recently went public with their vehicle, the Nimbus One, in a Techcrunch article. Oliver has been talking to Lihang for years and was excited to be able to interview him and bring a bit more of the story for you.

This week Horace and Oliver were together in person for the first time in nearly two and a half years as they got ready for the Micromobility Europe conference. One of the things that they love to do every so often is to revisit the Micromobilty thesis. They want this to be the episode you share with everyone who is perhaps interested in what all the fuss is about. If you’re a first time listener, Horace Dediu is the creator of the term Micromobility, and this podcast was where he and Oliver first started talking about it. They’ve now done over 140 episodes, covering all manner of lightweight electric vehicles including interviewing CEOS/founders in this space from companies like Vanmoof, Cowboy, Onewheel, Unagi, Segway, Arcimoto and more, while also talking to shared operators such as Tier, Lime, Bird, Dott, Revel and Beam. They try to focus on the intersection between the new vehicle tech, cities and consumers, using the disruptive innovation framework developed by Clay Christensen to ask what jobs are being solved, why these small and low cost vehicles are interesting, and what the implications will be on wider society. Specifically they tackle: - Where the insight for micromobility came from - The core tenets of what it is - electric, lightweight, utility - Why it matters including how the world is urbanising, how we need to radically reduce emissions per vehicle, how most trips are short trips and how small vehicles evolve faster than small vehicles etc. - Why it is significant to transport systems in terms of enabling point to point transport in dense urban areas - What we got wrong in the last four years

This week Oliver speaks with Job Stehmann from Vanmoof. Job is the chief of product design and technology at Vanmoof and responsible for bringing you the beautiful bikes that they produce. Specifically they tackle: - Vanmoof’s new bikes, the A5 and the S5 and the innovations that they have on them. - The wider context of Micromobility and design, and what works. - Job's journey with Vanmoof from where it was when he arrived (around the start of ebikes) to now, and how that journey has been for him - Vanmoofs pivot to proper integration of a phone/app and how Job sees that integrating with the overall experience. - What Job is excited about in micromobility design overall. Learn more about Job and Vanmoof by heading to their website. Our sponsor for this episode is Joyride. Joyride’s SaaS platform powers every point of the micromobility journey, from vehicle selection to turnkey software to extensive resources. As one of the world’s first micromobility platforms, Joyride’s shared mobility customers span more than 200 global markets and thousands of multimodal vehicles. These micromobility operators - no matter their size - are on a fast-tracked road to profitability with Joyride’s low-cost operating platform, exclusive hardware deals and industry hand-holding through obstacles like insurance, RFP writing and data compliance.

This week Oliver interviews Mark Frohnmayer, CEO of Arcimoto. Mark has been on the podcast before on episodes 111 and 46, and this time they discuss the latest progress with the vehicles they’re building, like the FUV and where they’ve got to with future vehicles like the Mean Lean Machine. They get into the revisions to the platform they’ve made for manufacturing with one of Oliver’s industry favourites, Sandy Munro, as well as the various variants that they’ve developing. Specifically, they tackle: - The latest on Arcimoto production and the development of the FUV platform. - The journey through Arcimoto’s project with Sandy Munro. - Mark’s vision for the Mean Lean Machine and how they manufacture the vehicles locally. – Funding, and how the Arcimoto stock 30x’ed and then corrected heavily in line with a lot of other EV manufacturers, how they can bring this technology to the market without going bankrupt. Learn more about Mark and Arcimoto by visiting their website right here. Our sponsor for this episode is Joyride. Joyride’s SaaS platform powers every point of the micromobility journey, from vehicle selection to turnkey software to extensive resources. As one of the world’s first micromobility platforms, Joyride’s shared mobility customers span more than 200 global markets and thousands of multimodal vehicles. These micromobility operators - no matter their size - are on a fast-tracked road to profitability with Joyride’s low-cost operating platform, exclusive hardware deals and industry hand-holding through obstacles like insurance, RFP writing and data compliance. And now, the Joyride team is taking their micromobility know-how on the road to host the first-ever Joyride Academy Experience. This one-of-a-kind, hands-on workshop made entirely for micromobility operators is being held on June 1 as part of Micromobility Europe. They’ll be covering Financing, Advanced Operational Efficiencies, Data-Driven Insurance and hosting a fireside chat with some of the industry’s biggest players. If you’re managing - or thinking of managing - a micromobility fleet, this is the place to be on June 1. The best part? The Joyride Academy Experience is completely free to Micromobility Europe ticket-holders, so register today and head over to our blog to see how to sign up for the workshop before spaces fill up.

This week Oliver interviews Laura Fox, General Manager of the Citi Bike bike sharing service in New York, and Senior Director of Lyft Bikes. This podcast was also released on our sister podcast project, Infinite Block. Laura has a very deep background and thinking about the future of cities, not only in an operational sense - running a Micromobility firm, before that working for Sidewalk Labs for Google and working with former world bank urban economist, with whom she edited one of Oliver's favourite books on urban economics “Order Without Design.” In this episode, Laura talks with Oliver about the implications of Micromobility on the city and also new forces calling upon her background at Sidewalk Labs, and consulting on the interplay of regulations and housing supply in Mexico City with Alain Bertaud. In this weeks episode, they talk specifically about: - How Citi Bike is a novel means of accessing high performance city vehicles, but it's highly dependent on government interventions for things like street space, allocation and funding. What would happen if NYC voted in a new council that took Citi Bike very seriously as a transport option? - Laura reflects on her time at Sidewalk Labs: What went well, and whether their new focus on software enabled tools is a step down. - A city often builds up complex regulations over time, and that deregulation, especially around things like zoning and building codes (for example in Mexico) can unlock cities to be more responsive to their citizens. Oliver and Laura discuss how this can be achieved. - Where are there cities who are not as fast at responding to tech advances, and how the process can be accelerated. - How we can trust in governance in an age of quicker change, and what countries are doing this well. - Whether there have been any alternative methods for infrastructure funding that have been successful. Check out Citi Bike and their developments within New York right here Our sponsor for this episode is Joyride.

This week Oliver interviews with Ryan Johnson, CEO and founder of Culdesac. This was first released over on the Infinite Block, our sister podcast looking at the intersection of urbanism, technology and the social contract (more on that below). Ryan is building the first Micromobility-focused real estate development in the US, with the goal of eventually building the US’s first car free city. The majority of people want to live in walkable/bikeable neighborhoods, yet only 8% do. Culdesac are developing a system for building real estate that will bring that to the masses, and with it, put micromobility at the centre of how we can get around in these new developments. Oliver and Ryan discuss the implications it will have on things like zoning, parking, housing and cities. It’s clear that what Ryan is doing is super important and something that is hopefully becomes the example others point to for a new micromobility-centred real estate model going forward. Specifically they talk about: - What Culdesac is trying to build, and why that matters. - How Culdesac came together in Ryan’s mind. - Why they chose Tempe in the first place and what they did as a city that enabled being there - The roles and responsibilities of Culdesac as a developer/landlord in terms of the contract that it has with its citizens. - The role of capital formation in unlocking this type of urban form innovation. - Is it really just as simple that they’re packaging all the things that have been done in Europe and working out how to bring them to the US? - How we can increase a city's capacity and flexibility without getting tied up in council and regulatory purgatory. - How Culdesac convinced venture capital to invest, and what they saw that other urbanists didn’t. - Whether getting MPR amendments is a sustainable advantage in creating differentiated built form - How Ryan considers cities emerging and responding in response to economic opportunity. - How we can avoid the common pitfalls seen with the new urbanist movement in the past. - How they consider emerging new forms of transport when selecting sites and designing communities. Check out Culdesac’s website right here - https://culdesac.com/ The Infinite Block is a podcast about the intersection of tech, the social contract and cities, using the lens of disruptive technologies like micromobility and crypto to understand how cities of the future will work in an age of declining trust and agility in governments. Check out our newsletter and podcast.

This week Oliver interviews Josh Whale, the founder/CEO of Ampersand, based in Rwanda. This is a story that we've wanted to bring our listeners for more than two years - ever since we first heard that there was a team trying to build their own full stack motorbike and battery swapping hardware and software in one of the world's most underserved mobility markets. We're excited that it shows the adoption of micromobility in markets purely on the basis of its economic merits, and helps develop low-carbon pathways to mobility market growth. Specifically they talk about: - How Josh, a New Zealander, ended up in Rwanda building electric motorbikes. - What is Ampersand and how their growth has tracked so far. - Why micromobility matters for countries like Rwanda. - How they source vehicles, why they chose to go to route of building their own and what has worked/not worked. - Over time, might they build a Gojek style application for Ampersand - How have they managed to fund the operation to date and what have they learnt in that process - what are the unit economics like in Rwanda for motorbike taxi operators, and how Ampersand improves this - What the scene for local indigenous vehicle production is like in Rwanda and surrounding countries - What Josh would like people to know about the micromobility scene in Rwanda

Bradley Tusk is a political fixer-turned-venture capitalist who specializes in working with startups like Bird, Coinbase, Eaze, FanDuel, and Wheel to break through in highly regulated markets. He was formerly the campaign manager of Michael Bloomberg’s 2009 NYC mayoral bid, the Deputy Governor of Illinois, and the first political advisor at Uber. In addition to his firms, Tusk Strategies and Tusk Ventures, Bradley is currently exploring mobile voting technology and blockchain solutions to help fix political polarization. Specifically they tackle: - Bradley’s most prominent experience of rapidly changing technology squaring with cities, their governance and their citizens was Uber. Bradley talks through that story. - Bradley has built your career on this trend of politics intersecting with tech, but when did the penny drop for him that this was going to be a thing? - How does he think think about derisking investments and the need for appropriate regulation with Tusk Venture investments? - Specifically with micromobility, the equilibrium we’ve reached feels sub-optimal - there is more demand vs. the supply that could be enabled. How did that happen? What will change it going forward? - Does he believe that there are instances in which tech can transcend politics? - Bradley talks through his project for mobile voting that he’s driving through Tusk Philantrophies. - What is the attraction to crypto for Bradley and how he thinks that that squares with local regulations. - The No1 thing that gov regulators don’t understand about the tech coming down the pipe and vice versa for tech folks about how government works. This is a syndication of the podcast that was originally launched on Infinite Block. If you like the Micromobility Podcast, you’re also likely to enjoy our new project, Infinite Block. As we’ve gone deeper into micromobility we can see that it’s connected to everything that we have in cities - zoning decisions and urban form, tech platforms, infrastructure funding, governance and at it’s core, the social contract. We’ve long wanted to be able to talk about some of the other disruptive innovation developments that we are seeing that are relevant to cities but aren’t quite the right fit for the Micrombility Podcast. So, if you like what we do here and ask in the age of accelerating innnovation, where and what is the city to be and do please come and join us by signing up to the Infinite Block Substack email and the Infinite Block podcast. Check out Bradley’s Firewall podcast: https://www.firewall.media

This week, Oliver interviews Tanguy Goretti, one of the founders of Cowboy, who just raised a $80m series C to fuel their expansion into the US. Tanguy debuted the C4 in the US at Micromobility America back in September, and this is the first chance that Oliver has had to sit down with him to talk through about the latest bikes and what funding will unlock for them. It’s a great conversation. Specifically they unpack: - The history for Tanguy’s involvement in Micromobility and the formation of the company - What problem they were trying to solve when they started Cowboy - Why DTC remains a rapidly growing model for bike sales, and how they think through the challenges - How they view competition - The fundraising journey for Cowboy, and how they’re thinking of the launch in the US - Why software is integral to the Cowboy experience, and why bike companies are not that good at it. - Why Tanguy believes that Cowboy can unlock community in a way that few other products can

This week we’re releasing the interview of Rebecca Bellan from Techcrunch interviewing Gogoro CEO and cofounder Horace Luke at our recent Micromobility World event. Horace is an OG of Micromobility and very similar to our Horace Dediu in that he came from mobile as well, and then sought to apply the advancements in tech to transport. Gogoro aspires to build a battery swapping infrastructure that will power millions of micromobility users from Berlin to Hangzhou everyday. Rebecca gets the inside story of the Taiwanese battery-swapping company in a depth hasn't been captured before—and conveniently, right on the eve of the firm's upcoming IPO. Horace and Rebecca discuss - Horace’s background in mobile phones - the business strategy behind battery swapping and two-wheelers - Gogoro’s expansion plans for China, India, and Indonesia - some of the largest micromobility markets in the world. Thanks very much to Rebecca for doing such a great job.

This week we release the interview that Horace did with Bird CEO/founder Travis VanderZanden at Micromobility World conference from January 2022. It was his first public appearance since Bird went public late last year and it is an instantly iconic exchange between two of the industry’s most important figures - Travis who catalyzed dockless electric scooters at Bird in California back in 2017 and Horace who coined the term micromobility. Travis and Horace discuss mega trends in micromobility and why, in their view, the industry still hasn’t produced a bike or scooter as impactful as the iPhone. Specifically they dig into: - Travis’s background in cell phones and ride-hail - The origins of Bird - Product and business model innovation in micromobility - The chicken-and-egg problem of infrastructure - How cities can accelerate micromobility adoption faster. It’s an awesome discussion, and one you can only hear here on the Micromobility Podcast. Thanks very much for listening!

This week Oliver interviews Mina Nada, CEO of Zoomo (formerly Bolt Bikes, featured on episode 66), about their business leasing ebikes to delivery gig workers like UberEATS/Deliveroo/DoorDash in the UK, US and Australia. The business has massively expanded in the last 18 months, and Mina has managed to drive a lot of that growth remotely while he’s been locked down in Australia. It’s an awesome story - don’t miss it. Specifically, they dig into: - for the uninitiated, a brief background on the story of Bolt Bikes and now Zoomo, and why electric bikes are compelling for delivery/B2B. - Where they’ve seen the most growth in the last 18 months. - Zoomo works directly with the delivery companies, so we unpack how integrated into their signup flow the company can you be. - Zoomo have started releasing their own hardware, so they unpack more about the vehicles and what they’ve learnt in doing that. - On episode 66, Mina indicated he had no interest in going for consumers. They explore whether that view has changed at all. - You've raised a few rounds of funding since the last conversation. They talk about the fundraising landscape and what has/has not changed. - One thing that the MM team was massively impressed by in the first interview was Zoomo’s capacity to raise debt funding - felt like a real strategic advantage relative to other companies in the space and it's still relativley uncommon. They unpack why it’s still uncommon and who is doing it well/what needs to happen to make it common. It was a great discussion - well worth listening to!

This week Oliver joins Horace to talk about his latest blogpost about his new transport metric - A Modicum of Transport. Developing new metrics is in some ways a provocation to remap how we thinks of new things, and change the framework for how the incumbents are viewed. This is no different. Like the horsepower before it, or the byte or Monthly Active User, we are trying to develop new nomenclature, metrics and ratios that sit around this phenomenon called Micromobility. They discuss the name, and would love your feedback on the concept, especially if there’s a name that you feel might be easier or more intuitive to understand. Specifically they dig into: - The historical importance of James Watt’s Horsepower and generally industrial measurements - Why new words and metrics can help us reframe the conversations - What the implications of a low MoTz score is in a city context (hint, it’s like free flowing water vs. sewage) - The next steps for adoption

This week Oliver interviews Horace about his latest research on climate and micromobility, and his reflections on the recent COP26 meeting in Glasgow. Specifically, they dig into why micromobility wasn’t more prominently featured in the potential solutions provided by groups like the IEA, and how that matches up to the disruptive innovation framework. Specifically they get into: - His new research and modelling into the climate action opportunity that micromobility presents - The new IEA report and it’s reliance on new technology that they haven’t identified, and why Horace believes it will come from micromobility (link to summary here: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-transport) - The challenges of technology disruption intersecting with policy makers who require proven and de-risked methods

In today’s episode, Oliver interviews Ties Carlier, the co-CEO and cofounder of Vanmoof to talk about the new Vanmoof V, which is one of the most beautiful ebikes at Micromobility Industries have ever seen and is due to drop next year. It’s a lot faster and more powerful than anything they’ve done before, and this was a great chat about that design decision and why Ties thinks we need to get more creative and lateral in how we think about what micromobility vehicles can do and should be regulated. Ties is based in Taiwan, which manufactures most of the world’s ebikes, so they also briefly touch base on that too. We’ve had his brother Taco (co-CEO of Vanmoof) on shows 53 and 74 so also check those out if you want to hear more about the Vanmoof story. Specifically they dig into: - Ties’ background starting the company with his brother Taco and his move to Taiwan. - the new V - what, why, when and why they chose to go for speed over other potential design opportunities - how the launch of the S3/X3 went and what Vanmoof learned in the process - hiring/building teams remotely for micromobility and how much Vanmoof has grown in the last year - what he’s excited about in the coming years in terms of product and tech in micromobility

This week Oliver interviews Enrico Howe and Alex Gmelin from Invers (@Inversmobility) about the 2021 Global Moped Sharing Report. Oliver interviewed Enrico on the show in episode 52 for the 2019 version and it was great to have him back and get an update two years later on about the state of moped sharing globally. It included some incredible and crazy stats – the mopeds sharing industry has transitioned to electric at a dizzying pace in the last two years. We’re looking forward to hearing commentary about it on Twitter - please drop us a line at @MicromobilityCo, @oliverbruce and @asymco. Specifically they dig into: - How INVERS and the Global Moped Sharing Report came to work together - The current state: What are the top line figures/key insights/developments? - What are the main markets and how did they develop? - Which cities are hotspots for moped sharing? - What vehicles are used for sharing and what are the trends? - What are latest developments in charging infrastructure and battery management? - Urban mobility planning: how is regulation affecting the market? - Look into the future: what do we expect for the next two years? In the meantime we want to thank our sponsor for the episode Ubiq. Ubiq is turning operations from reactive to predictive. Most shared mobility businesses are not profitable, as 60%-80% of the demand is not met. Ubiq places vehicles in the right place, at the right time, to meet demand. This enables operators to increase revenue by 20% within 8 weeks while also decreasing operational costs. Most shared operators react in order to meet demand, instead of predicting and exploiting the full capacity of their fleet. StreetCrowd is enabling over 15.000 citizens across 11 cities on 2 continents to address that issue by matching vehicles requiring rebalancing or charging with crowd users, allowing shared mobility providers to automate operations. Therefore, mobility operators can utilize decentralized operations that run 24/7, across the city, turning operations from reactive to predictive. Best part? It’s plug and play and you can get started right away. Get in touch to find out more by clicking this link: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/eNgL

This week we’re releasing another interview from the Micromobility America conference. Laura Bliss from Bloomberg interviews Ben Bear, CEO of Spin (and guest on MM episode 73), about where sharing is going next after a COVID 19 put the brakes on it. Spin is one of the more interesting companies with the relatively crowded shared Micromobility field being owned by Ford, and pursuing a slow and steady strategy focussed around things like charging infrastructure. It’s a great discussion. Specifically they dig into: - The challenges that COVID-19 has posed to the industry - What of the big problems - regulatory, unit economics, safety - still need to be solved - What cities are thinking about - Their expansion globally In the meantime, thanks to the sponsor for the episode Ubiq. Ubiq is closing the gap between supply and demand. Most shared mobility businesses are not profitable, as 60%-80% of the demand is not met. Ubiq places vehicles in the right place, at the right time, to meet demand. This enables operators to increase revenue by 20% within 8 weeks while also decreasing operational costs. How? By exploiting the full potential of your fleet. StreetCrowd is enabling over 15.000 citizens across 11 cities on 2 continents to contribute to the future of shared mobility. StreetCrowd matches vehicles requiring rebalancing or charging with crowd users, allowing shared mobility providers to automate operations. In other words, mobility operators have access to scalable, decentralized operations that run 24/7, across the city. Best part? It’s plug and play and you can get started right away. Get in touch to find out more! https://l.linklyhq.com/l/cxIZ

This week Oliver interviews Eric Qwidwenus-Wahlforss, Founder and CEO of Dance. When we first heard that the founders of SoundCloud had got into electric bikes we wondered how does the world of software paralleled across to the world of hardware and electric bikes. But Eric puts up a convincing argument and Dance has made a splash with their launch. This is a great conversation about the nature of how the industry has changed over time and how the business model of micromobility parallels to a lot of other subscription Internet businesses. Specifically, they dig into: * The backstory to Dance, including Eric’s background at Soundcloud in Berlin and the climate motivations for starting Dance * Why they chose the rental business model, and what that enables * More about the bike and the service, and how they see competition * The reception to date * The challenges and ease of fundraising and what has changed in the space over time * Manufacturing in an era of COVID

This week we’re releasing the first of the content from the recent Micromobility America conference. In this interview, Lauren Goode from Wired interviews Andrew Yang who was one of the headline speakers. Lauren and Andrew talk about Forward, his new American political party, before moving on to talk about role of micromobility in the future of transport. It’s a great conversation and we in the team really appreciate it when politicians have such progressive takes and are willing to embrace technology in transport like this. Specifically they dig into: - Andrew’s new political party, Forward, and why its important - How local, state and federal regulations play a part in Micromobility’s future - How many scooters Andrew owns - Why micromobility is important for health, both mental and physical - The need for cities to better accomodate these new modes - Why he likes small companies and innovation, and why micromobility is well suited to this - The challenges of electrifying other parts of the fleets. - The links between UBI and micromobility

This week Oliver interviews one of his heroes in the urbanist space, Gabe Klein. Gabe has successfully managed to successfully operate in both the private and public sectors, as one of the first execs at Zipcar, helping form the company that became Car2Go and then was appointed head of DOT in both Washington DC and Chicago. He has a great grounding in the space and understands what works and what doesn’t in cities giving him great perspective of what micromobility offers to the cities and urban transport conversation. It was a wonderful conversation - more like a catch up with a friend than an interview. The team hopes you enjoy! Specifically they dig into: - His background starting in bikes, moving on to Zipcar/what became Car2Go - His move into city government - both DC and then Chicago - and what he learned there around the challenges/opportunities to help shape cities and their transport systems - What he thinks micromobility offers to the transport conversation - both owned and shared - on the variables of cost, speed, convenience, joy and safety. - What he thinks the industry in general has done poorly/needs to improve on. - Whether he believes that micromobility has an integral part in the future of transport both in the US and globally, and what needs to be developed to unlock that potential. Our sponsor for the episode is UBCO. UBCO is accelerating the global transition to electric mobility by designing the world’s toughest electric utility vehicles. Engineered and tested in New Zealand, now adopted by consumers and businesses globally, UBCO’s rugged all-wheel-drive two-wheeler stands out in the lightweight electric vehicle category. As appetite grows for sustainable transport options, UBCO provides utility EVs that are tough, versatile, safe and connected. We interviewed their founder Tim on episode 96, and we were honoured to have them on stage at the recent micromobility America event in the Bay Area on the 23rd of September. Thanks for their support of the show.

This week Oliver interviews Jaideep Dhanoa, Founder and CEO of Fenix, about his experience within the micromobility industry across Asia and the Middle East. Jaideep is an absolute OG of the space. They talk about his experiences with the Chinese bikeshare boom while at Grab, his move back to the Middle East with Circ and now his efforts with Fenix. They talk Turkey which is a market that hasn’t been on the radar till now, but could well become the next Paris or Seoul. It's a great conversation and they really hope you enjoy as much as they did. Specifically they dig into: - Jaideep’s background at Grab working on micromobility integrations, and why that foretold the future explosion of the sector. - His journey back to the Middle East and his efforts with Circ and then the rise from the ashes of Fenix. - The challenges and opportunities for the rise of micromobility in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC). - The significance of the funding rounds that they’ve received. - The largest markets across the Middle East and Central Asia. - Why Istanbul is the most interesting emergent market for micromobility, and what Fenix is doing to secure their position there. - Jaideep’s reflections on the overall space globally, and where he thinks we’ll get to in 5 years. Our sponsor for the episode is Ubiq. Ubiq is making shared mobility profitable. Most shared mobility businesses are not profitable, as 60%-80% of the demand is not met. Ubiq is automating rebalancing operations to ensure vehicles are in the right place, at the right time, to meet demand. This enables operators to increase revenue by 20% within 8 weeks while also decreasing operational costs. The solution? Automated Rebalancing and Charging as a Service. Ensuring EV fleets remain charged is a major challenge for shared mobility and, if not managed effectively, can be a huge drag on revenues. Ubiq’s Charging as a Service gives you a head start by automating the charging process; its predictive engine is combined with crowdsourced operational execution to provide easily scalable charging operations. This leads to an efficient charging process that will have a major impact on revenue boosting. Best part? It’s plug and play and you can get started right away. Get in touch to find out more here: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/c3iX

Hey team, this week Oliver interviews Olaf Sakkers about his new book, Mobility Disruption Framework. Olaf is one of the General Partners at Redblue Capital, a new mobility venture investment firm that he founded. Prior to this, he was at Maniv Mobility for 6 years with Michael Granoff, a friend of Micromobility Industries and a previous guest on the podcast. This is one of our favourite episodes. Olaf’s work feels seminal, which is always a good place to start from. It covers a lot of the same ideas covered on this podcast all in one, coherent and cogent framework, and helped us really get our head around concepts that we’ve been thinking about for years but have struggled to articulate. We cannot recommend it highly enough. Thank you to Reilly Brennan for putting us onto it via his excellent Future of Transportation weekly newsletter. Specifically they talk about: Olaf’s history with Maniv Mobility and his new venture Redblue. The origins of the Mobility Disruption framework and its audience. Why Olaf is bullish on hydrogen for vehicles. His framework around CATS and DOGs and why the dematerialisation of transport matters His framework for Throughput Construction Cost, which in our opinion is revolutionary. _________________ In the meantime. The next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be at the Craneway in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500+ startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

This week Oliver interviews Horace about his recent thoughts on the impact of lithium ion batteries on power tools and how the market and products have developed. He also spawns a new framework: batteries we carry, batteries that carry us and batteries that carry themselves. It’s Horace at his best - riffing and letting his brain do what it does. In the meantime, make sure that you get your tickets for Micromobility America, the world’s largest summit devoted to small electric vehicles. It returns to the SF Bay Area on September 23, 2021 for an immersive, in-person gathering. The team are hellbent on breaking the old paradigm of car dependency and getting the world moving again, safely and sustainably. The event will be a jam-packed day of talks, demos, meetings, and test rides with micromobility’s top global founders, policymakers, investors, and influencers. Meet over 500 startups and established players, test the latest technology and vehicles for the first time in nearly two years. It’ll take advantage of the beautiful California weather, doing as much as possible outdoors and headliners include political upstart Andrew Yang, veteran tech reporter Lauren Goode, and e-scooter racing trailblazer Lucas Di Grassi, and dozens more. Check it out more at micromobility.io. The sponsor of the episode is Segway Commercial, the sharing business division of Segway-Ninebot. Their job is to help people and companies launch their own micro-mobility business. No matter the size or location of your scooter fleet, their mission is to make shared micro-mobility simpler and more accessible to all. They will be bringing a full line of electric vehicles to Micromobility America and encourage listeners to reserve their test ride. They’ll have their full range, such as Segway’s IoT-enabled e-Bike and e-Moped, and their full line of shared scooters featuring latest AI technologies, including T60 & T60 lite. To RSVP your test ride, please click on this link (https://b2b.segway.com/mma2021).

Today Oliver interviews Michael Dunne, founder of Zozogo, former VP of JD Power in China, GM of General Motors Indonesia and host of the Winning in Asia podcast which covers the auto sector in China. Mike has a huge depth of experience in China, which is an area that the team haven’t covered as much as we’d like on this show. The conversation gave rise to a lot of discussions about the lay of the land in the Chinese auto sector, the role of the Chinese auto sector in Micromobility and how micromobility will need to change to see adoption from those who are coming from poverty into wealth and are looking for highly performant and high status vehicles. It’s a great discussion and one that we think you’ll really enjoy. Specifically they dig into: - Mike’s background and how a kid from Detroit ended up in China in the 1990s. - the Dynamics of the local Chinese car industry, including a breakdown of local vs joint ventures vs Tesla. - what (totally crazy!) excess capacity in the auto sector looks like and why that might matter for Micromobility - the top down vs bottom up nature of industry in China, and why the incentives matter. - infrastructure in China - roading vs existing Micromobility - the cultural enablers and disablers for Micromobility in China - and why Micromobility will struggle in the quest for status In the meantime. The next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be at the Craneway in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500+ startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

Today Oliver interviews Kyle Doerksen, founder/CEO of Onewheel, about the companies journey. Kyle has been in the space since the very beginning and epitomises the builder mentality - having tinkered with lots of components back in the late 2000’s to build his first prototypes. They also talk a lot about funding and manufacturing as OneWheel has taken quite a different approach to others in the space in the USA. This video is also up as a Youtube video, complete with images of the vehicle as well. Specifically, they dig into: * The origins of Onewheel/Kyle’s background and motivation for starting the company * The vehicles and where they're finding a market including the breakdown between commuters and recreational users. * How Kyle thinks about community building, including Onewheel racing events. * How they think about countering the learning curve for the vehicle and their target demographic. * What the market for funding etc. has been like on your journey since the late 2000’s and why Kyle is a fan of bootstrapping. * What Kyle’s excited about in the micromobility space

Today, Oliver interviews Erdem Ovacik, CEO of Donkey Republic, the first shared micromobility player to go public globally. Donkey Republic is listed on the Nasdaq First North exchange in the Nordics. It’s a great discussion about how the market has evolved, and why they see increasingly tight cooperation with governments being the next phase of shared market developments. Specifically, they dig into: - the backstory of Donkey, including where the name came from and the development of the bikeshare market in Europe - Donkey’s unique approach of being both an operator and SaaS business and the economics of the varying parts of the business. - Why they’ve pursued a ‘virtual dock’ solution rather than just straight free-float and what that’s enabled them as a business. - Why they see the growth of the business being in publicly funded bike share systems in the EU. - How their valuation compares to other companies in the shared space, and what the reception of investors has been like. - what the listing has provided them in terms of options and what the costs have been ___________________ Thanks to our sponsor for the episode, Ubiq, who is making shared mobility profitable with data-driven services to automate operations and ensure vehicles are in the right place, at the right time, to meet demand. Ubiq’s customers have increased revenue by 20% while also decreasing operational costs. Ubiq offers services including Automated Rebalancing and Charging as a Service (ChaaS), using the power of the crowd to exploit the full potential fleets. The StreetCrowd also service matches vehicles requiring repositioning, or charging with crowd users, allowing shared mobility providers to automate operations. Ubiq is also increasing the efficiency of ops teams, by helping identify underutilized vehicles. With its plug-in forecasting models one can easily see where improvements can be made. Ubiq’s systems are plug and play and you can get started right away. Check them out at Ubiq.ai. _________________ The next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be in Pier 70 in San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500+ startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

This week Oliver interviews Richard Thorpe, CEO of Gocycle. Gocycle are the world’s premier electric folding bike manufacturer, and Richard has been at the game longer than most, starting to work on the project back in the early 2000’s. In this episode, they dig into the history of the company, why folding matters in a multimodal future, and the importance of vehicle weight. Specifically: - Richard’s background at Mclaren and how that informed his view on weight - The challenge of building an electric bike company in the 2000s - What matters for consumers, and how that informs how they bring their bikes to market - The new G4 range, and what that offers over prior models - What has helped and hindered with marketing Also, the next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be in Pier 70 in San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500ish startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

This week, Oliver and Horace interview Amir Haleem, CEO of Helium, about the rise of distributed telco infrastructure. This was originally recorded for the Critical Path, but given that Amir has been a guest on the podcast in the past and there’s a direct link between what they’re building and low cost connectivity for micromobility, we wanted to share here as well. If you’re interested in Helium and wondering how it sits within the telecommunication industry business model, this is a great episode. Specifically they dig into: - The Helium model for telco and what problem they were trying to solve. - Why Horace calls this the first 'useful crypto' he's found. - Horace talks about the traps of infrastructure financing, and ponders whether the Helium model invalidate these challenges. - Horace and Amir break down whether/how the model is disruptive to existing infrastructure. - They talk about the future challenges they can foresee, and how Helium will potentially react. Also, the next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be in Pier 70 in San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500ish startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

This week we’re releasing an audio version of the recent Micromobility Membership webinar on low end micromobility that Oliver did with reporter Lavender Au and Nat Bullard, Head of Content at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. They discuss Lavender’s lauded RestofWorld article on low end micromobility in China. In lieu of full-size cars, Chinese commuters are flocking to tiny alternatives that look and perform more like golf carts or rickshaws than Teslas. In 2019, these low-cost, low-speed vehicles actually outsold traditional electric cars by 2 to 1. It’s a great discussion about how the sector these lightweight electric vehicles in China have emerged, and where they might fit into a global transport future going forward. It is an incredibly illuminating discussion about a topic that receives far too little press. Also, the next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be in Pier 70 in San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500ish startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

In celebration of Earth Day 2021, Oliver interviews Horace about his latest project - looking at the carbon emissions in the transport sector and modelling the pathways for the current options. You can probably imagine where they get to, but they don’t want to spoil the show. This is still a work in progress, and they are putting this out as a primer so that folks may understand the narrative arc, and the background/context of why Horace is looking at this. Specifically they look at: - The math of emissions, and why transport is hard - The lifecycles of vehicles and why the shift to electric cars will take a long time - The ‘gap’ that exists between existing emissions reduction plans and reality - Where micromobility might contribute Also, the next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be in Pier 70 in San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500ish startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to miicromobility.io to find out more details.

Between COVID work stoppages, a massive stock surge, a strategic tech acquisition, partnering with legendary automotive engineer Sandy Munro, and the general fits and starts of pre-production, Arcimoto, maker of semi-enclosed electric three-wheelers, has had an eventful year. This week Oliver interviews their CEO, Mark Frohnmayer, to shed light on the company’s manufacturing progress and long-term ambitions—and why he believes heavy micromobility is vital to the future of electric vehicles. This is the audio version of the video from the Micromobility Show on Youtube. Check out the link to the video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTzO9wekyiA). If you like this, you will also likely like the interview we did with Mark back in November 2019 on Episode 46. Specifically, they dig into: - What is Arcimoto and the FUV? - How Mark got into lightweight electric vehicles - The no man’s land between bikes and cars - Arcimoto’s coming "Platform 2" - The regulatory situation for 3-wheeled vehicles - Licensing requirements to drive - Sandy Munro’s influence - Technical debt of Arcimoto - Arcimoto’s mini delivery vehicle, the Deliverator - How Arcimoto sees competition

This week Oliver brings you an exclusive interview with Salvatore Palella, CEO of Helbiz, which is about to list on the NASDAQ as the first shared micromobility player to go public globally. It’s a fascinating conversation about the current state of the market, how valuations are reached in the SPAC space, and what possibilities are enabled for micromobility by the public markets. Specifically, they dig into: - Salvatore’s background, including as one of the youngest professional football club owners in Europe. - The origin story through to the current state of Helbiz, including where they started, how they operate and how many vehicles they have. - They talk through the SPAC fundraising journey, and how Salvatore raised early capital for the company. - They talk through the post-public market plans for the company including thoughts on mergers and acquisitions strategy. - How they have viewed hardware. - A discussion of their early forays into cryptocurrencies, and what Salvatore thinks the future will look like for advertising-driven micromobility. - A discussion about the operational and behavioural differences between US & EU markets

This week, Oliver interviews Jameson Dietweiler, CEO of Fantasmo. Fantasmo has been around since 2014 to build maps for machines, and has been working specifically on micromobility since the earliest days in 2017. With the recent announcement that they’ve partnered with Tier to roll out an innovative phone based parking verification technology Oliver was excited to have a chance to bring them on the show. They use camera based positioning to better locate vehicles like scooters and ebikes in cities where often GPS is an insufficeint technology to provide highly accurate location data. They talk about the pivots that the company has made and why their ultimate goal is to own the basemaps that are used for positioning in cities all over the world, using micrombility as the first step. At Micromobility Industries, we’ve been long excited about companies that are building software layers to the micromobility experience. It also provides a good answer to regulators and city officials who ask how hard it is to enforce parking solutions for shared operators across cities, which as we know was an early issues with shared schemes. It can be a little hard to visual, so we would recommend that you check out the short video here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPsXU0Vbctg]. Specifically, they dig into: - The origin story of Fantasmo and how Jameson came to be working on ‘maps for machines’ - The details of the pivots that they’ve made as a company - on-device to parking on phone via cloud etc. - They talk through the Tier pilot and what they’re seeing in the early data. - How they think about the move of computation into mobility, and where it’ll sit (discussing Horace’s thesis that these vehicles will become computing platforms) - They discuss how defensible the moat for a company like Fantasmo is vs. Google or Apple opening up an API for this based on their mapping tech - How the the funding environment is for a software company in the boom-bust Micromobility industry.

This week, Oliver interview Joseph Brennan, co-founder of Zoba, an analytics company working on optimizing micromobility operations. It’s a pretty nerdy topic, but the topline is that their clients have seen up to 74% more rides per scooter simply from operational tweaks that Joseph and the team have suggested. As micromobility operations get more sophisticated and cities get stricter on operators and rule enforcement, services like what Zoba offers will become even more important. This was originally published as a video on our Youtube channel. Check it out here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ipNkpCEN4. Specifically, they dig into: - The history of Zoba and how Joseph and his team came to found the company. - The variables that they’re working with, and how they engage with customers - A discussion on the benefits of new technologies coming down the pipe, including swappable batteries. - The biggest operational challenges for both operators and governments - How has their business fared in the boom/bust of the wider sharing industry, and what are they seeing now? - The challenges and opportunity for raising money in the software-for-micromobility space and what he’d recommend to other entrepreneurs.

We're excited to bring you this interview with Carson Brown, co-founder of TAUR Scooters who are building one of the best designed and coolest looking scooters we've seen on the market. With their team based in London, it’s an excellent discussion about the role of design in micro, and why these new vehicles reflect the culture and environment that they’re designed in. We really hope that you enjoy it. This was originally a Youtube video for Micromobility Industries - if you’re keen to check that out, check out the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elwybg1Vmeo Specifically they dig into: - Carson's background working on electric unicycles - Why they decided to chase after personally owned scooters - The importance of design in owned objects - What does their development process look like, and what were the design decisions they had to weigh up. - How they thought about the TAUR brand from the get go. - How they think about the 'hard' part of being in hardware, and what they're facing as a company when getting into production - How they're thinking about support and maintenance - The irony of designing one of the most innovative personally owned scooters in a market (the UK) where ownership is banned. - His long term aspirations for TAUR.

This week, Oliver interviews Horace about the ‘Trillion Dollar Question’. With Arcimoto (who we’ve covered on episode 46) hitting a $1b market cap, and the recent article from RestofWorld covering the rise of low end Chinese micro-EV’s, we wanted to circle back to the question of what will heavy micromobility - those vehicles in the 50-500kg category - look like and why could they be where we find the defining vehicles of our time. Specifically we cover: - A quick summary of Horace’s research into carbon emission modelling for micromobility (more to come on this soon!) - How Horace and Oliver both got into micromobility - The rise of the Chinese low-end and what’s interesting about them - How small cars like the Gordon Murray T25 or the golf cars sit in ‘no-mans-land’ - Why the criteria for disruption in vehicle type might sometimes require getting creative with the rules and being ‘unsafe’ - The rise of Arcimoto and their creative interpretation of the rules - Why these vehicles will answer the ‘trillion dollar question’ when they emerge, and why they’re inevitable.

This week, we release the first of the many incredible sessions from the 2021 Micromobility World conference, wherein Benedict Evans and Horace Dediu discussed the disruptive potential of micromobility. It was an incredible conversation between two people who clearly have a lot of time and are excited by each others ideas. We hope you enjoy it! Specifically they dig into: - Why Benedicts background as a historian makes him a great analyst. - The micromobiltiy disruption thesis - low end, the asymmetric nature of unbundling trips (market for vehicles vs. market for miles), the role of fun/enjoyment, speed of interaction - Why micromobility is more interesting that autonomy - The role of Marchetti’s constant in transport, and why that matters for micrombility’s unique capabilities - What the rise of elevators can teach us about new urban transport technologies - What the platform game will look like in this space. - What the impact of COVID has been on how we think about transport - How micromobility will enable Amazon logistics API to fulfil deliveries - Tackling ‘Should the thing move, or the person move?’, and why that matters to micromobility. - Why the low cost of micromobility platforms will allow real world marketing kickbacks similar to how ‘surfing’ on the internet works now - ’take me somewhere interesting’ - Why the rise of new forms of transport like automobiles enabled new crimes and the rise of Bonnie and Clyde - Why cities will likely eventually move towards dynamic road pricing If you prefer video, check out the video of it on the Micromobility Industries Youtube page here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QAedjTudoQ

On this episode, Horace joins Oliver on the show to talk about what an entry by Apple into the mobility market would look like, and why a car is perhaps the wrong form factor to be looking at. They talk through the growth prospects for micromobility, and why Apple’s entry into the market would be a meaningful contribution to the world of mobility. This is on the back of Horace’s post ‘Apple Computer’ published on the Micromobility Industries blog recently. Check it out here: https://micromobility.io/blog/2021/1/11/apple-computer Specifically they dig into: - The parts of the upcoming Micromobility World conference that Horace is most excited about - The size of the car market vs the micromobility market as it currently stands - Where the margins lie - Why Apple has typically entered into industries that are still ‘embryonic’ - What a meaningful contribution could look like and what technologies would materially affect the user experience - The constraints of infrastructure on useability and the ‘feel’ of a vehicle - How computation becomes more personal over time, and why that will apply to vehicles too - The revisit Microsoft’s decision in the 90’s to get into the lounge, and why that was the wrong question. - Horace coins the term ‘smartphone-y’ Thanks again to the sponsors of this episode, Christensen Group. Christensen Group, a lead player in the micromobility insurance category. As the micromobility space continues to grow around the world with a diverse spectrum of business models, Christensen Group continues to be a leader in the space servicing: e-scooter, moped, motorcycle, e-bike sharing operations along with: subscription & private based programs, manufacturers, AI technology providers and more. They will have a virtual booth at this year’s Micromobility World event on January 27-29. They invite you to stop by and have a chat with them about safety, fundraising, regulatory requirements, and trends in the risk and insurance marketplace, or whatever else is on your mind. They’re also going to have folks from Zagster, ZipCar, Ford Mobility, and others dropping by their booth to discuss litigation trends, regulatory missteps, fundraising and start-up strategies, and more.

Fun fact: Seoul, South Korea is the largest market for shared scooters globally, and Beam is one of the largest players there. This week, Oliver interviews Alan Jiang, founder of Beam, the largest shared Micromobility operator in Asia-Pacific. Asia is one of the hotspots for micromobility given its home to the majority of the world’s population experiencing the growth, density and ensuing urban congestion where micromobility really thrives. We’re very excited to cover more of it in 2021. Alan has a great view over the market and it's nuances. Speciflcally they dig into: - Alan’s background at Uber and then Ofo - how he’s seeing the market develop in Asia and Australasia - Seoul - it’s the worlds biggest scooter market, and you're one of the largest players. What are the benefits to scale and what are they seeing? - Beam’s unique commodity hardware strategy - fundraising and what he’s seen change in the conversations over the last 12-24 months - how Alan think of the ridehailing players, and whether Grab/Go-Jek/Didi are going to go hard into micromobility

Today on the show, Oliver interviews Puneeth Meruva, Associate at Trucks VC about their latest report: The Three Axes of Micromobility: Supply Chains, Distribution and Maintenance about the often unseen world of getting Micromobility into the hands of consumers. This is a topic that hasn’t received much coverage to date, so it was a fascinating conversation fully of nitty-gritty and relatively technical details about the opportunities for development and investment in the micromobility ecosystem. Specifically they dig into: - a recap of Trucks VC, their thesis and other portfolio companies in the Micromobility space - Puneeths background and how he got there - what the research was about, and why Trucks undertook it - key findings in the fields of components, distribution, maintenance etc - Whether timelines for new product development are getting shorter vs longer and why - Who the interesting businesses are in the distribution and maintenance space - future opportunities in design and tech both in vehicles and business models (including a reference to www.nimbus.green - one of the companies Oliver is most excited about at the moment) - A discussion about vehicle platforms, and whether Puneeth agree’s with Horace’s thesis that these vehicles will become computing platforms. The report itself can be found here [https://www.trucks.vc/blog/the-three-axes-of-micromobility-supply-chains-distribution-and-maintenance]

This week Oliver interviews Chinmay Malaviya and Charlie Depman, cofounders of Ridepanda, about their efforts to build a better customer journey for purchasing owned micromobility. The platform is relatively new, but it hits on a very relevant need. Thanks to Reilly Brennan from Trucks VC for putting us onto them. Specifically we dig into: - Their backgrounds at Bird, Scoot and Lime and how that led them to starting this business. - The core customer needs that they’re trying to solve - The importance of trusted reviews and reliable servicing for customers - What matters to customers, and why brand is far further down the list than expected - What early traction they’re seeing - How COVID 19 has impacted the buyers guide - Their fundraising journey and what they’re seeing for Micromobility related startups in general.

This week, Horace joins Oliver for the podcasts 100th episode, and they run through what’s happened in the last 2 and a half years, and wonder aloud what will happen in the next two. Specifically they dig into: - Horace’s early theses - The emergence of scooters and why they proved to be so challenging to Horace’s ideas about what vehicles would be most popular - The biggest mistake that Horace thinks he made in his early theories - What Oliver considers the biggest barriers, and where he over and underestimated progress over the last 2 years - Where they expect to see development - The pace of adoption, and why patience is needed.

This week Oliver interviews Richard Burger, co-founder of Swapfiets, the largest bike subscription service in Europe. With more than 220,000 subscriptions and growing rapidly, it’s a great discussion on solving the job-to-be-done for biking/micromobility, as well as the challenges and opportunities of operating large service business at scale across 6 (soon to be 7) countries. Specifically, they cover: - The context of the existing bike ownership experience in the Netherlands that gave rise to paying 16 euros a month to rent a bike. - The origins of Swapfiets, and the genius marketing decision to use a blue-front wheel to make the bike’s identifiable - The operational challenges and economics of the subscription business - Who their customers are, and how that’s evolved over time - The launch of their new electric bike, and how that’s performing

This week Oliver interviews Dmitri Pivovarov from Bolt Mobility, which is one of the largest ride hailing players in Europe, and has been quietly building a micromobility business which recently announced it was expanding to challenge Tier as the largest micromobility operator in Europe in 2021. Oliver uses this episode to dig into the interplay between ride hailing and micromobility, how Bolt has built the business, and get an update on the overall shared micrombobility market in Europe. It’s a great interview. Specifically, they dig into: - The history of Bolt Mobility, and it’s origins as Taxify - Clarify that they are indeed, not endorsed by Usain Bolt - Talk about the nature of mobility markets, and servicing this demand with either ride hailing or micromobility - How the Bolt team sought to approach building the micromobility business, and how they’ve built a very cost-effective operations engine for scaling - The unique design points from their new custom hardware - The state of the other players in the European market

Today Oliver interviews Horace for a fun review of the parallels between the smartphone revolution and what we’re seeing play out with the growth of lightweight electric vehicles trips. It’s also a hilarious chance to hear Horace talk about how we think about fostering children as a species and ask why the same thinking isn’t applied to how we run organisations and products. Specifically they dig into: - The history of the smartphone industry, and why business model rather than competence dictated the fall of Nokia. - Discuss the importance of understanding the framing of job-to-be-done and why that matters for micromobility. - Horace points out how the fostering and growth of children is so natural to humans, and asks why it is yet so challenging for companies to foster comparable innovation. - Talk about how incumbent car manufacturers will be treating micromobility internally, and how the immune systems of the organisations will struggle to accept such a wide departure from their standard business model. Micromobility World is our first all-digital event running from Jan 27-29th, 2021. We have some of the biggest names in the worlds of owned and shared micromobility, disruptive innovation, urban design and investing coming together to talk about how to supercharge the Micromobility revolution. Tickets are free, with a VIP tier for curated community participation. Register at Micromobility.io - it’s going to be awesome.