Zoomo, An Australian Startup That Builds Utility e-Bikes For Delivery Workers, Has Raised An Additional $20 Million In Series B

Australian e-bike start-up, Zoomo, has raised an additional $20 million in a Series B extension round led by New York’s Collaborative Fund, with participation from investors VC arms of Mitsubishi UFJ, COPEC and Australia’s SG Fleet. The fundraise comes less than four months after the company’s last capital infusion and brings its total funding up to $101.5 million.

In November, Zoomo raised $60 million in equity and debt for its Series B, which it used to fuel the development of software development and the expansion of more vehicles. The additional funds will be used for much of the same purpose—growing the software and hardware teams at the company, hiring more team members globally and investing in further fleet and vehicle management offerings for both mechanics and customers. The company also plans to expand further into Europe, having expanded to France, Germany and Spain just last year.

Founded in 2017, Zoomo builds and offers electric bikes through a monthly subscription service to last-mile delivery riders. It also provides fleets of e-bikes (and third-party manufactured mopeds, in some markets), as well as fleet management software, to enterprise customers like Domino’s. The company has since gained traction in the burgeoning delivery market. Zoomo claims to have experienced its revenue and enterprise business grow by 4 times and 20 times respectively in 2021.

In the past year, however, the startup has been faced with challenges around getting its bikes from factories in Asia to customers in the US and Europe.

“We actually had a few containers that were stuck in the Ever Given that was stuck in the Suez Canal. We couldn’t find trucks during Brexit to get our vehicles around the UK. Omicron around Christmas [affected] like 50 percent of some of the assembly workforce that we were using to do QA and final assembly so that slowed down our deployment. It’s been a really challenging period over the last 24 months,” Zoomo’s Chief Executive, Mina Nada, told Forbes.

“Even shipping container costs have gone up extraordinarily. It’s coming off a little bit but when you compare it to pre-2020 it’s still multiples higher than it used to be,” he added.

As an attempt to remedy the situation, Nada said that Zoomo plans on making a deal with a manufacturer in Eastern Europe to build and ship out bikes within Europe to avoid delays in the delivery of bikes.

Additionally, the company plans on rolling out its new high-performance utility e-bike, the Zoomo One, and is investing in new vehicle form-factors and accessories. On the software side, the company is putting together a team in Australia and Europe to advance the software that accompanies its bikes and their onboard internet-of-things devices, including a new mobile app that will allow for keyless locking and unlocking of bikes.