Founder & CEO of Zipp Mobility, Charlie Gleeson | Image credit: Zipp Mobility
Ireland-based shared micromobility startup Zipp Mobility has announced that it has raised €1.3M in a fresh round of funding. The company has secured a total of €500K from two angel investors, including Barry Maloney; €250K from Enterprise Ireland; and €562K through a crowdfunding campaign on the Spark Crowdfunding platform.
Including the current round of funding, Zipp Mobility has now raised over €2M in funding with a number of high-profile private investors, including former Irish rugby international Brian O’Driscoll, who have already invested in the company.
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Capital utilisation
Currently operating e-scooter schemes in 8 cities across Poland (3) and the UK (5), the company plans to increase the number of e-scooters in the coming months.
Besides, the funds will also help Zipp Mobility to roll out its shared e-scooter service across Ireland – pending e-scooter legislative approval – expand current operations, and launch in additional European countries.
Currently, the company employs a staff of 25, and now with the raised capital, it expects to grow the team to 35 by the end of 2021.
The sustainable fleet of electric vehicles
Founded in 2019 by Charlie Gleeson, Zipp Mobility aims to bring a more sustainable e-scooter sharing model to cities in the UK, Ireland, and others. The company is headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin.
As a homegrown Irish startup, the company is already in close discussions with a number of local authorities in advance of the expected approval by the Dáil later this year of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – which will allow for the regulation of e-scooters on Irish roads.
Charlie Gleeson, CEO and Founder of Zipp Mobility says, “We have experienced great momentum in the last 12 months, showcasing our service to hundreds of thousands of people across the UK and mainland Europe. We are now excited to grow our European position, following our latest funding round, by continuing to offer sustainable transport alternatives to millions of people across the continent.”
He further adds, “Over the last two years we have been in discussions with Irish local authorities, and we have been sharing our international experience with them to ensure that scooter-sharing schemes are rolled out safely and responsibly once e-scooters are legalised in Ireland.”
Zipp Mobility’s e-scooter features
The company operates completely in-house and uses only electric vehicles (electric vans and cargo bikes) to manage their operations, which are claimed to be ten times more energy-efficient. Zipp e-scooter features an aircraft-grade aluminium frame, 10-inch airless tyres, a swappable battery, dual braking, a wide base and a low centre of gravity.
And to further ensure safety, Zipp also uses geofencing so that e-scooters will not work outside of designated areas and slow down in designated ‘slow speed zones’. The company says each of its e-scooter has a lifetime of more than two years, as compared to industry average, which is 18 months for shared scooters.
Since November 2020, Zipp Mobility’s UK customers have completed over 150,000 journeys and spent over 1 million minutes on their scooters, resulting in approx a 70-tonne reduction in carbon emissions.
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