Ride AI

This week Oliver speaks with Albin Wilson from Roam Motors, who are building a electric motorbike manufacturer and battery stack out of Kenya. Oliver was particularly struck when talking to Albin about the size of the opportunity and how conforming to the theory of micromobility what they’re doing is.  We have long thought that the market for Micromobility would be most exciting in countries where automobility and electrification has yet to happen simply by nature of these vehicles being cheaper and the markets less attached to the past than OECD countries. It’s also the most exciting spot for future decarbonisation opportunities.  Specifically they dig into: Roam’s backstory - how they ended up building EV’s from Kenya The details of the bikes and what Roam is working on What has been hard/different about building for How much Roam has raised and what the market for raising is like Connect with Albin on LinkedIn Learn more about Roam here We are committed to finding more people to interview in this space. If there’s anyone listening to this who can give us an introduction to the team at Ola in India please let us know via Twitter DM’s or at oliver@micromobility.io. We would love to have that conversation with them and about their electrification efforts given that they’ve just shipped their 100,000th electric moped in only just over a year since starting production. In the meantime if you haven’t check out our latest effort, the Rider Choice Awards, you really should check it out. It is our industries version of the Oscars, the Baftas, the Top Gear Speed Week and the Webby’s all tied into one. You can select the best firms and vehicles in more than 30 categories and get them selected for consideration ahead of judging for Micromobiltiy World, which is happening on January 19th online. We have many of the top brands in the world currently battling it out for top spot in the bike, scooter, pod, subscription business, shared operator and more from around the world. We’ve been blown away by the level of excitement from the community and are super excited to share the preliminary results with you. The first round of cutoff is coming this month, and then again next month so get your votes in quickly! Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week Oliver interviews Jonas Nyvang, CEO and founder of Stilride, who are building a very novel electric motorbike out of Sweden.  We are always VERY interested in how micromobility will create and enable new production techniques for lightweight electric vehicles, and we think that what Stilride have built might offer something very interesting to the conversation.  As Horace has often laid out, the manufacturing technique determines so much about a product, and new vehicle manufacturing techniques like iStream from Gordon Murray or modularised microfactories that Stilride talk about, so goes new types of vehicles that can be created. Specifically they tackle: The background of Stilride and what they are building The significance of alternative vehicle fabrication techniques Why Jonas is working on his own vehicle and what’s significant about it The manufacturing technique and what it offers The details about the moped Fundraising to date and what has worked/not worked Find Jonas on LinkedIn and learn more about Stilride right here Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week Oliver interviewed Sam Baker from Mobility Fund. We’ve had Sam on before, on episode 50, when he was still at Wunder Mobility, but since then, he’s headed off and is doing his own fund specifically focused on micromobility B2B businesses.  He’s been a real advocate for the space and it was great to reconnect at Micromobility America and to get into more depth about the opportunities that exist in micromobility around the edges and in niches that otherwise aren’t always covered.  We really enjoyed this conversation and hope you do too. Specifically they discuss: Sam's background with Wunder Mobility and what led to the formation of Mobility Fund What he is focused on at Mobility Fund, and where he is excited about opportunities Who are his LP’s and why are they interested in this space? What Sam thought of Micromobility America and what we can be doing to better tell the story of micro You can connect with Sam on LinkedIn here And you can learn more about what is happening with Mobility Fund here Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week Oliver interviews San Kim, founder and CEO of Swing Scooters, the largest shared micromobility operator in South Korea.  South Korea is one of the worlds biggest shared micro markets and also one of the most underreported. This interview lifts the lid on the growth of the space and why the unique regulatory environment, high incomes, dense urban environment and other factors has contributed to one of the highest levels of penetration per capita for shared than anywhere else on the planet.  In this great first exclusive interview with San, they unpack: The background of San at Softbank and auto companies and how that perspective gave him the idea for Swing How they got into the scooter game initially The South Korean landscape - players, regulations and other contributing factors How they’ve managed to build such a strong operational team and how that compares relative to other companies around the world How he’s thinking about growing the company - focus on competition vs expansion How they’ve raised capital over time To learn more about San and Swing Scooters, visit his LinkedIn page. Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week Oliver interviews James Gross, one of the co-founders of Micromobility Industries (which host this very podcast and the conference) to talk about the launch of Ride Review, the new source of reviews and ratings for all vehicles in the micromobility universe, from Onewheels to escooters/bikes, to golf carts and pods. As this space undergoes a Cambrian explosion of new vehicle models and types, Ride Review seeks to cover them and provide help riders who are trying to find the best option for them.  Specifically they dig into: - What is Ride Review and why is it important? - The significance of discovery in a fast changing environment - The origin of why Micromobility Industries was uniquely placed to roll this out - The wider mission of Micromobility Industries and what they’re trying to achieve in supporting the industry. You can follow James on Twitter and LinkedIn Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week we release another session from Micromobility America – this one is the interview with Wayne Ting, CEO of Lime being interviewed by Julia Thayne Demourdaunt. Wayne was impassioned and his call more recognition of Micromobility and the role that it can play in our transport systems.  Being in the audience It was electric to watch. We hope you enjoy the session as much as we did. Specifically they dig into: The history of the space and how they’ve grown What he sees as the opportunities for shared micromobility The importance of city regulations The injustice of how these vehicles are viewed relative to other options From Julia - I don't think I've ever laughed so hard during an interview as when Wayne Ting, CEO of Lime told Micromobility America that Micromobility can't just be for "white boys". Check out the full video, and Wayne's other quotable comments on our You Tube Channel Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week we release a talk from our recent Micromobility America conference that we hosted in the Bay Area in mid September - this was one of the most popular panels of the event - the ‘Raising Money in Micromobility for Software VC’ panel that was run by our conference cohost, Julia Thayne Demourdant and featured a slew of the top mobility investors and incubators in the space. We loved this panel, because it covered all manner of topics, from funding to government regulation to total addressable market to more.  We’re going to be releasing a few of these talks on the podcast over the next few weeks. If you’re also interested in seeing them as videos, a number of them are up on the Micromobility Industries Youtube channel. Panel topic: Panel of investors to discuss how to harness cleantech and mobility funds in the U.S. and Europe for micromobility. Especially well-suited for software start-ups and for policymakers who are trying to attract more start-ups to their geographies.   Specifically they tackle: We've seen firms like Elemental invest in low GHG on-road transport software plays like Weavegrid or lots of EV charging infrastructure. We've not seen so much go into micromobility companies. Why do they think that is? What is the opportunity for entrepreneurs building in the space? And where (geographically) the opportunities for funding are. What counts as micromobility software – where does it start and end? And how does that definition translate to where companies should look for funding? Why hasn’t the general mobility investment funding translated to micromobility investments? Is the space still too nascent? What the iPhone of micromobility is going to be, and what will the killer app be? How do we insulate newer companies from being tarred by the current terrible performance of micromobility services and software on the public markets? How policy has changed the playing field for micromobility compared to other modes in cities, and what’s software got to do with leveling that playing field?  What are the coolest software companies or services that they have seen in the micromobility space and why they are interesting. A big thank you to our panelists: Alex Mitchell, LA Cleantech Incubator  Olaf Sakkers, GP, RedBlue capital  Avra Van Der Zee, COO, Elemental Excelerator Sam Baker, GP, Mobility Fund Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week Oliver interviews Alper Oktem, CEO and founder of Marti, which as far as we can tell, is the largest Micromobility operator in Turkey. Oliver has  long wanted to cover the Turkish Micromobility market, because it is such a large country, and they are proportionately so underserved.  Turkey is proportionately underserved with transport options in the cities – Istanbul is considered one of the most congested cities in the world. This was a great conversation and Alper is a real go-getter in the Micromobility space.  This was a great conversation, especially around funding and the importance of building Micromobility markets for the demographics and countries that they are operating in.  Lots of lessons in this episode. Oliver will be interviewing Alper again at the Micromobility America conference which, is happening on the 15th and 16th of September, so hopefully we will see you there and if not, we will have all of these conversations and videos coming out and up in the very near future. Specifically they tackle: The backstory for Marti Their vehicles  Regulations and the Micromobility market in Turkey Fundraising and their plans for the NYSE listing What the exciting next steps are for Marti If you like this, you’ll love Micromobility America - coming up in San Francisco on the 15th and 16th of September 2022. We are expecting 1000 people from hundreds of companies to talk about the latest on Micromobility technology services companies and more, as well as the wider implication for micromobility in climate, transport systems and cities. I will be up there and would love to see you there – please come and join us by getting your tickets at micromobility.io Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.

This week Oliver interviews Julia Thayne Demordaunt, Principal of Urban Transformation at the Rocky Mountain Institute. Oliver is a massive fan of RMI - they’ve been advocated for market based climate solutions for years and have some of the most in depth research on the pathways required to help us meet our climate goals. Julia is leading the research at RMI about the potential for micro to contribute. She came onboard as one of the hosts for the Micromobiltiy Europe show and the team had an absolute blast meeting her and talking about her work. In this conversation they talk about the opportunities and pitfalls of micromobility in all it’s forms, and how they intersect with cities. Specifically they dig into: Her background and how she got to Rocky Mountain Institute What RMI does around urban transport / electrification Why Micromobility is important in the overall mix, and why it’s different from other options (especially around funding/infrastructure) What steps we need to take to accelerate adoption

This week we share another interview from Micromobility Europe - This time it is the timeless interview of Jason Slaughter, creator of the largest urban planning YouTube Channel - Not Just Bikes being interviewed by Julia Thayne DeMourdant from the Rocky Mountain Institute, about why many cities suck, but Dutch cities don’t.  Our host Oliver has often joked that if you spend enough time talking about Micromobility, you end up falling backwards into discussions about urbanism, space allocation and what makes for great cities. Jason nails why that is in this interview, and being in the Netherlands for this conference we can see what he was referring to. The intersection between transport, vehicles, felt experience and finances are all laid to bear.  This was also released on our YouTube channel that has turned out to be our most popular ever with more than 100,000 views on You Tube. Specifically they tackle: The origin of Not Just Bikes and Jason's background Why car dependency creates sprawled suburbs How urban planning and design can determine if a city will suck or not A city that is built for cars is not built for people We need to move away from building car-centric cities, and instead build people-friendly cities with walkable neighbourhoods and good land use. Any micromobility solution needs to be compatible with walking If you like this, you’ll love Micromobility America coming up in San Francisco on the 15th and 16th of September 2022. We are expecting 1000 people from hundreds of companies to talk about the latest on Micromobility technology services companies and more, as well as the wider implication for micromobility in climate, transport systems and cities. I will be up there and would love to see you there – please come and join us by getting your tickets at micromobility.io Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday morning here! And for those who want more, we offer our Micromobility membership (mmm — “Triple M”) which includes exclusive content, swag, and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team! We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.