In this article you will know what is micromobilitythe startups leading the movement, the difficulties it faces and much more…
The world is being shaped by thousands of enterprises every day, and one of the areas that promises the most change is mobility.
The traffic in the most important cities is a headache for its inhabitants. Any errand can take hours; the time it takes to get from home to work drains energy from workers; transportation systems remain full; etc.
For these reasons and many more, “improving mobility” becomes a need to solve and many entrepreneurs are willing to do so. How?
This is when we start talking about micromobility.
What is Micromobility.
Micromobility is the mobilization that is done in light means of transport and for short distances. And the most common means are e-scooters and bicycles.
Some sources suggest a higher specificity:
- The means of transport must weigh less than 500 Kg (a car can weigh from 800 Kg onwards)
- The distance traveled must be less than 1.5 km.
Curious fact: The oldest record of a bicycle, dates from the year 1817. And almost 200 years later, it becomes one of the saviors of its successor: the automobile.
At the beginning, startups focused on micromobility had “stations” or “ports” for users to take or leave the e-scooter or bicycle. But now we see a second generation that does not need ports. We go down the street and we easily see e-scooters on the sidewalks that can be taken by any user.
Many entrepreneurs and investors see an immense opportunity in micromobility, and for this reason, startups have been created for a few years to attack this niche. Let’s meet the most important competitors.
What are the most influential startups.
It is estimated that in the USA, the value of the micromobility market will be above 200 billion dollars by the year 2030, according to CB Insights. And although it may seem like an exaggerated figure, we can currently see that it is a market that is growing by leaps and bounds.
Some startups that we will see below have already reached their unicorn status. This shows that different investor groups have their eyes, and their wallets, on solving mobility through profitable businesses.
Some of the startups leading this movement are:
(I put on this list some that gave the starting point and allowed all micromobility to “wake up”. And others that are currently very solid and continue to expand)
The challenges facing micromobility.
If you have read this far, everything seems like a sea of possibilities to make money. However, in this sea, as in many others, there are sharks.
Startups like Ofo and Mobike (bought by Meituan Dianping), which operate mainly in Asia, have been on the brink of failure, despite being worth billions!
Mainly because of the large number of competitors that are entering the game. However, there are some challenges that all startups face.
Achieve profitability.
Being profitable is something that only some startups manage to achieve. For example, Bird, which in less than 9 months after its creation was already worth 1 billion dollars, currently has a net profit of 19%.
However, other startups have been on the brink of bankruptcy, and many others have gone bankrupt.
The regulations.
This is not exclusive to micromobility. Companies like Uber and AirBnb have been shaping the regulations of cities. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t. But they have shown that startups have the power to change the status quo.
Also, it is not surprising that cities want to regulate. And more in the case of scooters and bicycles that can add more chaos to what already exists.
Imagine if passers-by couldn’t walk safely on the sidewalks. Or that they cannot walk calmly because they are constantly tripping over bicycles lying on the ground.
In some Chinese cities, they banned more bikes from being released to the public. And in cities like Paris and Barcelona, you can’t ride on the sidewalks.
In various African cities, the problem goes beyond regulation, and is the infrastructure that does not allow the use of scooters and bicycles; at least to ride with a minimum of security.
There’s still a long way to go, but that’s okay. The cities we have today were thought of hundreds of years ago. Therefore it is difficult for disruptive ideas to be easily adapted.
Equipment problems.
Startups in this area have a “community of chargers,” who are paid to pick up, load, and drop off skateboards at designated locations.
The point is that both scooters and bicycles need maintenance; not just charge.
In cities like Shanghai, where there are more startups in this area, you see a lot of bikes that don’t work. This means that users must try one, then the other, and so on until they find one that works.
For this reason, companies like Bird are making the transition to formally employing their employees. In order to have plant support that helps them full time to offer timely maintenance.
Also, another giant problem is vandalism. Startups like Gobee.bike in France had to cancel operations because a large part of their bicycle fleet was damaged or missing.
In Colombia, the Mexican company grin reports that every day between 3 and 4 scooters are stolen. However they remain in operation.
Conclusion.
The outlook is encouraging. Like the transition from animal traction to motor vehicles, when the infrastructure was nonexistent, necessity led to adaptation and later adoption.
It is clear that many startups will die along the way, but those that manage to get ahead will have a completely lucrative market at their feet.
I hope this information has helped you to know what micromobility is and what the current situation is like 🙂
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