European e-scooter and micromobility startup Dott raises $85 million
Dott has raised a new $85 million Series B funding round - this round is a mix of equity and asset-backed debt financing. Belgium-based investment company Sofina is leading the investment. Dott is a micromobility startup that is better known for its colorful electric scooters that you can find across several European cities.
The company operates a fleet of 30,000 electric scooters in five countries. Users can download a mobile app and unlock a scooter through the app. The company charges an unlocking fee as well as a per-minute price.
During its early days, Dott positioned itself as a capital-efficient, sustainable e-scooter company. It has raised a lot less money than Bird or Lime and it has taken a different approach when it comes to operations.
For instance, Dott has always had its own warehouses to charge and repair vehicles. The startup doesn't work with third-party logistics providers. Dott has hired its own in-house team of logistics employees.
Similarly, Dott tries to repair, reuse and recycle scooters as much as possible. Thanks to swappable batteries and electric trucks, the company tries to keep its CO2 emissions as low as possible in the cities where it operates.
As a result, the company has won permits to operate in Paris and Lyon following tender processes. Overall, the company operates in a dozen cities in France, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Poland. Tier, a European competitor, has been expanding more aggressively and has raised $250 million in November 2020.
In addition to Sofina, new and existing investors include EQT Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Estari, Expon Capital, Felix Capital, FJ Labs, Invest-NL, McRock Capital and Quadia.
With today's funding round, the company plans to expand beyond e-scooters with a new bike-sharing service. Dott already shared images of its e-bike. It should be launching this summer.
Dott also plans to expand to other cities and countries, starting with Spain and the U.K. As you can see, Dott doesn't want to launch a hundred cities at once. It is slowly rolling out its service in new cities. It is currently EBIT positive across all cities and Dott probably wants to keep it this way.