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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.

This week Oliver is joined by Marcus Li the founder of Eli who are building a lightweight electric vehicle similar to a Smart car but a bit smaller and selling into the European and American markets. This is possibly one of the most interesting interviews Oliver has done with an early stage founder of a hardware company – They get really into the nitty-gritty details of how Marcus has funded the company to date and the challenges and opportunities that exist in the space.  They also discuss the Chinese micro electric car industry to date which is an area that is desperately undercovered here in the West.  Specifically they tackle: - How Marcus got to starting Eli  - Why there is a big opportunity in this space for small vehicles - The specifications of the vehicle itself - How Eli is handling manufacturing, Chinese design and supply chains and transport - The fundraising journey for the company As you’ll hear at the end, Marcus will be one of the companies that is presenting at Micromobility America on the 15/16th of September in the Bay Area. He’ll be joining the Micromobility team, and about 1000 others to talk about the latest in micromobility and lightweight electric vehicles. He’ll be a part of the pitch competition that will happen on the stage on the 16th alongside amazing other companies such as Taur Scooters, Bo Mobility, BiMotal, Weel and more. We’re expecting this to be our best event yet. Get your tickets now at micromobility.io You can find out more about what is happening with Eli on their website  Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Micromobility Europe is coming to San Francisco in September 2022! Learn more and get tickets here. 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 Kari Anne Solfjeld Eid from Whee!  Whee is a cargo bike subscription service based in Oslo Norway. Kari Anne won this years inaugural Micromobility accelerate pitch competition that we had at the Micromobility Europe conference in June. She was selected by a group of judges as the best presenter on the day for a new Micromobility service or product. The judges noted her quirky style but also a really solid business under it.  One thing not covered in this episode was Kari Anne's low cost of acquisition and very low levels of churn that they’ve had with their subscription businesses.   Specifically they dig into: The backstory of Whee! and why it exists How the service has grown, customer expectations and unpacking ‘there is a lot of money to be made from taking women seriously' The subscription model and why it holds promise The fundraising/company building experience they’ve had to date Oliver really enjoyed this conversation and has enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Kari Anne over the last couple of months/ He has come to the realisation that we don’t include enough conversations here about Micromobility for families or women, something that we plan to do better on - If you have any ideas please message Micromobility on Twitter. If you’ve not yet heard, Micromobility America is coming up in San Francisco on the 15th and 16th of September 2022 and we are expecting over 1000 people from hundreds of companies to talk about the latest on Micromobility technology services companies and more. The Micromobility team will be up there and would love to see you there – please come and join us by getting your tickets at micromobility Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Micromobility Europe is coming to San Francisco in September 2022! Learn more and get tickets here. 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 podcast was first published on our sister podcast, Infinite Block This week we're releasing a talk from our recent Micromobility Europe Conference, with Horace interviewing Azeem Azhar. Azeem is one of the great thinkers in the space of smart cities, the importance of exponential technologies like Micromobility and how they relate to governance and the social contract. You may recall that we interviewed him earlier this year. Both Horace and Azeem are big fans of each other and at the recent conference they got to sit down and really nut out the importance of the city and how it relates to Micromobility. These are the sort of conversations that we want to be having on the Infinite Block so if you have any suggested guests, please reach out to us on Twitter or email  Oliver@micromobility.io with ideas. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about Azeem and his involvement in micromobility here.

This week Oliver interviews Adam Barmby from EAV, the electric cargo bike manufacturer based in the UK. When Amazon launched their 'micromobility hub' in the UK recently, an EAV bike was the pictured bike used in promotional material for the announcement. Micromobility for freight hasn’t been discussed a lot on the podcast, and it was really exciting to unpack the implications of Micromobility and see how it conforms to the thesis that Horace and Oliver have been weighing out of the last couple of years. It is especially exciting to hear that EAV is fundamentally changing the business model of last mile delivery, where interestingly more than half of the cost of delivery is incurred. Adam was part of the Micromobility Accelerate pitch contest that in the recent Micromobility Europe conference in June. Specifically they tackle: The background for EAV and how it came to be founded What EAV builds, and why it matters impact of cargo vans in cities Their traction to date including recent business development deals and the sales pipeline to operators working for large ecommerce platforms. The fundraising journey so far See more of what Adam is doing within the micromobillity industry here. You can view the EAV website here Micromobility America conference coming up on the 15th and 16th of September in the Bay Area. We will have over 1000 guests from hundreds of companies talking about the future of Micromobility and how it can simultaneously help us with climate change while, disrupting the urban transport economics of cities. It’s going to be a wonderful reunion for the industry to all get together with incredible vehicles, including the Nimbus which Oliver covered in episode 141, as well as the new autonomous bike from Weel which we will be covering on a future podcast , as well as a whole heap of other really cool product announcements. Learn more and get tickets here.

This week is the release one of the episodes from recorded at the recent Micromobility Europe conference in Amsterdam in early June. This episode is the story of TIER with Lawrence Leucshner, and interviewed by Julia Thayne DeMordaunt from The Rocky Mountain Institute. TIER is now the worlds largest micromobility operator. Lawrence was a guest on the podcast very early on, back in episode 37, in August 2019. A lot has happened since then, and it really is a fascinating take with Lawrence this episode. Specifically they tackle: - How Tier started out with much less money than their competitors - The importance having a mission - How the industry has evolved and what is done well and what it hasn’t done well. You can learn more about Lawrence here and learn more about TIER on their website If you like this you will probably also really like the Micromobility America conference coming up on the 15th and 16th of September in the Bay Area. It’s going to be a wonderful reunion for many of us in the industry to all get together with incredible vehicles, including the Nimbus which Oliver covered in episode 141, as well as the new autonomous bike from Weel which we will be covering on a future podcast , as well as a whole heap of other really cool product announcements.