An e-scooter and micro-mobility European startup Dott has raised a new $85 million Series B funding round. The latest round is a mix of equity and asset-backed debt financing. The leading investment company Belgium-based Sofina in the funding round.
Other existing investors who participated in the funding round are EQT Ventures, Prosus Ventures, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Expon Capital, Felix Capital, FJ Labs, Invest-NL, McRock Capital, and Quadia.
The firm is known for its colorful electric scooters that you can find in several European cities. The e-scooters are quite popular among people as it is an easy and eco-friendly way of exploring the city and town.
Currently, the firm operates a fleet of 30,000 electric scooters in five countries. The users can avail themselves of the services via mobile application and unlock a scooter through the app.
The firm charges an unlocking fee as well as a per-minute price, as per the ride time. During its commencing days, Dott placed itself as a capital-efficient, sustainable e-scooter company right now. It has raised a lot less money than Bird or Lime and it has taken a different approach when it is about executing operations.
The firm has always had its own warehouses to serve the users with maintenance and repair vehicles. The startup doesn’t work with any third-party or holding for logistics solutions. It has hired its own in-house team of logistics employees.
It is highly eco-friendly, as the firm tries to repair, reuse, and recycle scooters as much as possible. Another good thing is swappable batteries and electric trucks, the firm tries to keep its CO2 emissions as low as possible in the cities where it operates, to serve with sustainable solutions.
With this, the firm has won permits to operate their business in Paris, and Lyon following tender processes. Besides this, it operates in France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, and Poland.
With the raised funds, the firm plans to expand to other cities and nations, starting with Spain, and the UK. The firm decided to roll out the services slowly and keep its EBIT positive across the cities.