Dutch Electric Scooter Startup Bolt Mobility is on a Full Charge
Oversubscribed by over 200%, raised over €3 million on Crowdfunding Seedrs.
When Amsterdam-based electric scooter start-up Bolt Mobility set out to raise money via equity crowdfunding to make ‘the Dutch Tesla on two wheels’, it asked the public for 1.5 million euros.
But over 2,000 investors across the United Kingdom and the Netherlands gave it double that amount when its campaign on Seeders closed last week, making history as Seedrs’ most successful non-UK campaign to-date.
The spectacular reception underscores the yearning for and faith in the company’s sustainable personal mobility solution — its first electric scooter, called AppScooter, is slated to be market-ready by 2018.
The company’s statement on the successful crowdfunding is republished below:
PRESS RELEASE
London, 18 October 2017: Bolt Mobility, the ‘Tesla on two wheels’, has today closed it’s oversubscribed (by over 200%) fundraising campaign, which raised over €3 million on equity crowdfunding platform, Seedrs. The European startup is on a mission to take petrol-guzzling, environmentally harmful scooters off the road, permanently.
Internet Enabled Electric Scooter
The fundraise, which attracted over 2,000 investors from the UK and the Netherlands, has become Seedrs most successful non-UK campaign to date. The proceeds from the fundraise will be primarily used to get Bolt’s internet-enabled electric scooter, called “AppScooter”, ready to market in 2018. While the majority of the campaign’s investors were UK based, investors from the Netherlands invested more per person on average.
The global sales for motorcycles and scooters reached 134 million units in 2016, with industry revenues reaching $90 billion, yet scooters, in particular, pose serious environmental problems. According to the University of Cambridge, scooters are up to thousands of times more polluting than a small delivery van and are responsible for 30% of worldwide traffic emissions.
A number of European countries have put specific policies in place to deal with the environmental impact of scooters. In Amsterdam, 77% of all scooters on the roads will be subject to new legislation from January 2018 as petrol scooters manufactured before 2011 are phased out. France and Italy have also banned petrol scooter usage in some cities during certain days or times.
By contrast, it appears that the UK is lagging behind as the British government recently announced the decision to just ban the sales of diesel and petrol cars by 2040. They have not yet put similar legislation in place to deal with scooters, despite them being bigger polluters than cars, especially as poor air quality is also a growing concern in the UK. Currently, air pollution in Britain causes an estimated 29,000 deaths a year.
Founded in 2014 by entrepreneurs Marijn Flipse and Bart Jacobsz Rosier, the Dutch startup is gearing up to be the scooter of choice for Europeans next year amidst uncertainty regarding petrol scooter laws. Bolt’s recent fundraising round will accelerate production so the automotive startup can take its electric scooters to market in 2018.
Bart Jacobsz Rosier, CEO and co-founder at Bolt, says: “It’s exciting to see so much support from the UK market. The proceeds from our latest fundraise will enable us to push the AppScooter into production next year. We aim to have delivered more than a quarter million scooters to customers by 2020. We are truly excited to be at the forefront of a lucrative market worth over £30 billion a year.”
Edwin Berkhout, a Dutch venture capitalist and investor in Bolt says: “Bolt Mobility’s approach is revolutionary, as our scooters will be powered by clean, renewable electric and therefore potentially game changing on a global scale. Not only is the AppScooter the next step in helping the world reach its renewable targets, it is also how scooter driving should be.”
Bolt Mobility
Bolt Mobility started in 2014 and is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The company was co-founded by engineer Marijn Flipse and serial entrepreneur Bart Jacobsz Rosier with a vision to disrupt the global scooter market and accelerate the transition towards sustainable energy and transport.
Bolt’s AppScooter
Ahead of ordering an AppScooter, customers can fully customise their electric scooter with options including: color, motor and battery size, alloys, rims and other extras, including a windscreen.
Specifications
Battery life:
AppScooter offers the potential to store six battery modules, meaning the scooter can travel as far as 245 miles (400km) on a single charge, which is three times more than any other competitor.
Speed:
The scooters are capable of going from 0 to over 25 miles per hour (45km/h) in just 3.3 seconds, making it the fastest accelerating scooter on the market.
Touchscreen:
The AppScooter has a seven inch touchscreen that has a 4G internet connection, powered by Vodafone. AppScooter’s technology knows your location, answers your calls, plays music and navigates the best routes. It even texts your friends what time you’ll arrive, or more importantly sends an automatic “I’m driving” response. The user interface can also be controlled via the handlebars, meaning drivers can focus on the road. This matters because over 70% of people use their smartphone while driving, increasing the chance of an accident by up to 160 times.
Founders:
Marjin and Bart co-founded Bolt with a view to accelerate the global transition towards sustainable energy and transport. With Bolt’s AppScooter, Bart and Marijn set out to create a safe, scalable and environmentally friendly alternative to petrol and diesel vehicles.
