Published at 10/29/2018
unu completes financing round with double-digit million sum
unu receives investment of 12 million USD Series B funding to begin the next phase of the company's development.
unu completes financing round with double-digit million sum and heralds second phase of company's development
- unu receives investment of 12 million USD Series B funding to begin the next phase of the company's development: the launch of a second, networked product generation to address the mobility services market and the expansion of its international business.
- The round will be led by Ponooc. Existing investors such as Capnamic Ventures, IRIS Capital, Michael Baum and NRW.BANK also participated again.
- The mobility company, founded in 2013 by Elias Atahi, Pascal Blum and Mathieu Caudal, already has a total of 10,000 electrically powered scooters on the road. Since 2015, unu has been successfully expanding abroad.
Berlin, October 30th 2018
Urban traffic is changing: In large metropolises, alternatives to traditional car traffic are increasingly being sought. In the first quarter of 2018, the European market for electric scooters grew by 51 percent, while sales of conventional scooters fell by 40 percent. The Berlin-based mobility startup contributed significantly to this. Forbes named founders Elias Atahi, Pascal Blum and Mathieu Caudal among the Forbes 30 under 30, the most promising young entrepreneurs. In the meantime, more than 80 employees work at the location in Berlin.
New Product to Enter Second Company Phase
Now, unu has raised its Series B financing of 12 million USD. The money is to support the next phase of the company's evolution. unu is working in different product generations trying to tackle the trends that it believes are shaping the urban mobility in the future: e-mobility, mobility-as-a-service and autonomous driving.
With the first product generation of unu, an electric scooter, electric mobility was successfully made accessible to the masses by putting 10,000 scooters on the road. Now, with the second product generation, networked electric vehicles are to be brought onto the market to offer mobility services such as scooter and p2p sharing - and thus compete with companies already established there.
Strong Traction from Mobility Services
To be able to roll out the second product generation on a large scale right from the start, unu has been able to conclude various local partnerships for mobility services. Numerous partnerships for public sharing cases in cities are in preparation that will boost the company’s footprint with multiple thousand sharing scooters in the coming years alone, demonstrating the successful transition from a pure hardware player into a hardware and software business.
Internationalization
The new capital will also enable unu to enter further markets. Since 2015, the Berlin-based company has successfully expanded into two of the most important European markets alongside Germany and Austria: France and the Netherlands. The company expects further growth from internationalization in order to solve urban mobility on a global scale.
Brand Relaunch
The entry into the company’s next phase is supported by a brand relaunch. The first big step is a new website that not only heralds a brand relaunch, but also communicates the company's vision and product strategy to the public for the first time.
The Investors
The round is led by reputable financier Ponooc. The independent Dutch VC fund has close ties to Pon Holdings B.V. (Pon), one of the largest family businesses in the Netherlands, selling vehicles and bicycles all over the world. Ponooc's clear focus is on sustainability and the future of mobility, which makes it a suitable partner. Existing investors such as Capnamic Ventures, the French VC fund IRIS Capital, NRW.BANK, Michael Baum and other private investors also reinvested.
Voices
Pascal Blum (Co-Founder and CEO unu)
"We are very pleased to welcome Ponooc as the main investor in this round. The team convinced us immediately because they know their way around the changing mobility market very well. Having made electric mobility accessible to the masses with the first product generation, we now want to network the second generation, so that our vehicles can also be used for Mobility-as-a-Service."
Friso Bensdorp (Director Ponooc)
“We believe e-scooters are an important part of the mobility mix to solve the growing traffic congestion and resulting environmental pollution in urban environments. Ponooc is impressed with the unu team and the accomplishments realized till date and has high expectations of the new connected unu scooter to be launched next year. We look forward to supporting unu in its next growth phase.”
Jörg Binnenbrücker (Founding Partner Capnamic)
"unu convinced us early on with their vision and continues to develop their product ever stronger and better. In addition, the company is driven by a great team. E-mobility will continue to revolutionize the future of cities in the next decade and unu is well positioned to benefit from it. Now, we want to take the next step together and help unu achieve even greater success."