State of European

Mobility Startups
2021

January 2022
 Leading innovation ecosystem for mobility entrepreneurs. Global startup & venture capital intelligence platform.

Via ID
As a business accelerator for new businesses and the venture capital arm Dealroom.co is the foremost data provider on startup, early-stage and
of Mobivia, Via ID provides long-term support for projects and growth company ecosystems in Europe and around the globe.
entrepreneurs in the development of innovative solutions, so that they can
become leaders in sustainable mobility and autotech.
Founded in Amsterdam in 2013, we now work with many of the world's
Thanks to its hybrid positioning (investor, accelerator, ecosystem
facilitator) Via ID supports innovative startups in sustainable mobility at most prominent investors, entrepreneurs and government organizations to
different stages of development in order to help them develop in France provide transparency, analysis and insights on venture capital activity.
and Europe and transform the mobility of tomorrow.

Mobility Club
The Mobility Club by Via ID connects corporates with startups, and
provides its members a deep understanding of key trends in mobility and
smart city, but also new business perspectives through investment and/or
partnership opportunities.
The value proposition of the Mobility Club is built around 3 main pillars:
mobility insights, events & networking, dealflow & project flow.

Page / 2
What happened in mobility in 2021.

Best year ever for mobility Corporates keep investing for Europe leads in Micromobility and EV
investment in Europe. strategic and financial reasons. mobility.
European mobility companies raised $14B in 2021, an CVC is also pushing a lot of capital into mobility Micromobility investments globally are ramping up
all-time high and 2.7x compared to 2020. startups, accounting for almost 29% of all the funding again after the 2017-2018 wave. But now Europe is
The growth has been mainly driven by megarounds since 2015, more than any other sector apart from deep showing the way. Attracting more than $1.4B of
(>$100M), which accounted for 65% of all funding. tech. In 2021 however, CVC contributed “only” around investments in 2021, as much as the US and China
More than 40% of all European mobility unicorns have 20% due to the entrance of more PE funds, hedge funds combined.
been created this year with 14 new unicorns. and institutional investors into the scene. EV mobility is also accelerating tremendously, with
Mobility is being reshaped by the transition to electric Corporates are investing for a mix of financial and investment into EV charging infrastructure jumping 11x
mobility, the race for autonomous driving, the strategic reasons, often alongside commercial to $1B and investment into EV battery value chain up
reinvention of urban transport with micromobility and agreements and partnerships. 3.8x to $3.3B. This rise is led by the change of habits
innovation in logistics. from the pandemic and environmental awareness.

VC investment in European Mobility Corporate investments in European mobility European 2021 VC funding and YoY funding growth
startups by year startups by year (% share and total amount)

$14B 51%
2.7x 46%
EV charging $1.0B 11x
28%
$5.2B 23%
21% 21% EV battery $3.3B 3.8x
17%

$0.3B $0.4B $1.5B $2.5B $1.2B $2.9B Micromobility $1.4B 1.7x

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 3 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
 1 Value and Venture Capital

Page / 4
European mobility startups have surged to a combined value of $227
billion, up 8.4x since 2016.
Combined enterprise value of European mobility Most valuable companies: » view online
startups by launch year
▊ 2015-now ▊ 2010-2014 ▊ 2005-2009 ▊ 2000-2004 ▊
1995-1999 ▊ 1990-1994 ▊ Pre 1990

$250B
$227B

$200B
8.4x
$150B

$100B

$50B
$27B
10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

Page / 5 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
2021 has been a record year for European mobility investments, with
$14B raised, up 2.7x since last year.
VC investment in European mobility startups Top rounds in 2021: » view online

▊$0-1M (pre-seed) ▊ $1-4M (seed) ▊ $4-15M (series A) ▊ $15-40M (series B) ▊

$40-100M (series C) ▊ $100-250M ▊ $250M+

$15B
$14B

$10B
2.7x

$5.2B
$5B
10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

Page / 6 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Megarounds have accounted for 65% of all fundings in 2021, an all-time
high.
VC investment in mobility startups by round size » view online

▊ $0M-$1M (pre-seed) ▊ $1M-$4M (seed) ▊ $4M-$15M (series A) ▊ $15M-$40M (series B)

▊ $40–€100M (series C) ▊ $100–$250M ▊ $250M+

100%

80%

65% of rounds
60% > $100M

40%

20%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 7 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
There are now 34 mobility unicorns in Europe. 14 of these were created in 2021.

Cumulative number of mobility Unicorns New mobility unicorns in 2021:

» view online

40
34

+14
30

20
20

10

21
10

11

12

13

14

18

19

20
15

16

17

20
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20
20

20

20

Source: Dealroom.co A unicorn is defined as a rapidly scaling company (and tech-enabled) that has reached a $1 billion valuation, on the basis of a funding round (unrealised),
Page / 8 acquisition or IPO (realised). More details here. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
 Explore all 34 Mobility unicorns online.

Mobility unicorns are being created faster than

ever before, driven by the acceleration in the
transition to electric mobility, the race for
autonomous driving, the reinvention of urban
transport with micromobility and innovation in
logistics. 14 unicorns have been created in 2021,
compared to “just” 4 in 2020.
More than 40% of all European mobility unicorns
have been created this year alone.

» New unicorns in 2021

» Private unicorns

» More ...
European mobility saw a massive $81B of exit value in 2021, more than
in the last 6 years combined. Mainly driven by SPACs and IPOs.
Combined valuation of mobility exits Biggest mobility exits in 2021: » view online

▊Acquisition ▊IPO ▊ SPAC

$81B
$80B

$60B

$40B

$20B

$0B
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Source: Dealroom.co. The stats include mobility companies in the process of going public through SPAC: link
Page / 10 Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
 2 Regional analysis

Page / 11
European mobility startups continue to compete strongly internationally. Europe
raised almost half of the US total in 2021 and grew much faster in the last years.

VC investment in mobility startup by HQ

USA » view online Europe » view online
$34B

$30B

6.3x

$20B

$14B

14x
$10B
$5.5B

$1.0B

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 12 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
European mobility startups attracted 16% of the global investments, its highest
ever. At early stage this more than doubles to 36%.

VC investment in mobility by startup HQ, total VC investment in mobility by startup HQ, rounds up to $15M

▊ Europe ▊ USA ▊ China ▊ Rest of Asia ▊ Rest of the World

100% 4%
100%
10%
18%

80% 80%
22%
21%
2%
60% 60%

30%

40% 40%
40%

20% 20%
36%
16%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 13 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Germany has received the most investments since 2015, but has been
surpassed by Sweden in 2021 thanks to NorthVolt. UK and France follow.

VC funding in Mobility VC funding in Ecosystem Number of startups Number of unicorns

(2015-2021) Mobility (2021) value in Mobility*

Germany €7.1B €2.5B €45B 1K 8

Sweden €5.9B €3.6B €41B 270 4

United Kingdom €5.6B €2.6B €37B 1.2K 10

France €2.6B €900M €14B 1.6K 1

Spain €2.1B €600M €7.7B 588 3

Netherlands €1.1B €663M €14B 692 2

Estonia €1.1B €630M €4.1B 75 1

Switzerland €473M €69M €3.7B 217 1

Italy €260M €103M €1.8B 442 0

Norway €225M €87M €10B 128 2

Rest of Europe €2.0B €465M €29B 2K 2

Source: Dealroom.co *Analysis based on startups founded after 2000.

Page / 14 Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Stockholm, Berlin, London, Munich and Paris keep their spot as key hubs for
mobility in Europe, followed by Barcelona, Madrid and Amsterdam.

VC funding in Mobility VC funding in Ecosystem value Number of startups Number of unicorns

(2015-2021) Mobility (2021) in Mobility*

Stockholm €5.1B €3.0B €19B 75 3

Berlin €3.6B €909M €20B 220 4

London €2.7B €920M €26B 444 6

Munich €2.5B €1.3B €17B 195 4

Paris €1.7B €605M €7.1B 512 1

Barcelona €1.3B €526M €4.3B 167 2

Madrid €713M €34M €2.7B 138 1

Amsterdam €507M €258M €10B 176 2

Helsinki €185M €47M €3.9B 48 0

Milan €145M €67M €809M 93 0

Source: Dealroom.co *Analysis based on startups founded after 2000.

Page / 15 Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Explore mobility funding by regions, countries and cities.

Mobility is one the biggest sector for European

VC funding, attracting 13% of all the
investments in 2021.
Competition among countries and cities to
attract transportation talent and business in the
field is increasing. Countries and cities also play
a pivotal role in facilitating the transition
towards more sustainable mobility from the EV
revolution to micromobility in urban areas.

» Investment by regions

» Investment by countries

» Investment by cities

» More ...
 3 Corporate activity

Page / 17
Corporates account for more than 20% of the funding in 2021, from just 7% in
2015. But a significant decrease compared to 2018 (50%) and 2019 (45%).

VC investment in mobility startups by investor type » view online

▊ Venture capital ▊ Corporate ▊ Other

100%

80% 7% 33%

60% 50% 45%

21%

40%

46%
20%

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 18 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Mobility is among the sectors where corporate investments are more
present.

Why are corporates investing so much

% capital investment (2015-2021) from corporates
in mobility startups?

Mobility companies, such as auto OEMs, and energy

Deep Tech 29.2% companies have strong capital resources and deep
sector expertise. Investing is a way to establish
Mobility 28.7% partnerships, have an edge on disruption of the
industry and achieve strong financial returns. Some
Impact 24.2% investments are more financially driven and focus on
market perspective and potential returns, others
Fintech 21.7% have a strong strategic mandate regarding synergies
on supply chain and industrial asset utilization.
Food 21.2%
In contrast, Enterprise software refers to tools
improving productivity and processes in a wide range
Health 19.8% of industries. This means the strategic dimension of
the investment and the value of sector expertise is
Enterprise software 12.2% strongly diminished.

Page / 19 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Mobility OEMs and suppliers and Energy companies are investing mainly
in EV, while tech and financial sector have more spread bets.
Selected mobility corporate investors and their biggest 2021 investments EV Logistics and Delivery Other

Others
Mobility corporates Energy and Oil & Gas
(Tech, semiconductor, financial sector etc)

Page / 20 Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Volkswagen and Scania invest in
Northvolt to secure batteries supply
for their EV ambitions. Country: Sweden
Sector: EV Battery manufacturing
CVC investors: Goldman Sachs, Scania, Volkswagen
Last funding: $2.75B (June 2021).
According to TechCrunch, the company concluded several deals with Total funding: $6.1B (equity and debt)
OEMs, including Volkswagen (a $14B contract), BMW (a $2.3B contract),
and Scania. The company operates a gigafactory in Sweden and plans In 2017, Northvolt announced a bold and simple plan: to
to build 2 other gigafactories (one will be in Germany). enable the future of energy by developing the worldʼs
greenest battery cell and establishing a European supply of
Northvoltʼs key differentiation is about manufacturing batteries using batteries. The mission of the company is to build the
renewable energy, recycling batteries in-house and reuse of the raw greenest battery in the world with a minimal carbon
materials during the process. footprint and the highest ambitions for recycling to enable
the European transition to renewable energy.
Volkswagen has a 20% stake in Northvolt. In 2019, joint-venture to
build a factory. Volkswagenʼs ambition is to meet the growing demand
in the EV market (the OEM plans to launch +70 new EV models).
Scania backs Northolt since 2018 and is looking at securing batteries
for heavy vehicles. The Swedish OEM realises there is a limited supply
of batteries, thus looking at a strategic partner to fulfill its ambition in
the heavy electric vehicles segment. Back in 2018, Scania deployed an
expert R&D team in Northvolt Labs.
» Northvolt profile

Page / 21 Source: Mobility Club & Dealroom.co

 “
CVC investments in mobility reached an all-time
high in Europe, with $10Bn invested in 2021.
the beginning of exceptional growth.”
At Via ID, we are at the forefront of the shift towards a greener mobility.
CVC investments in mobility reached an all-time high in Europe, with
$10Bn invested in 2021. Corporates are strongly involved in the shift
Vincent Cabanel
Business Intelligence towards sustainable mobility, with EV and AutoTech (especially used
at ViaID cars) sectors attracting the most fundings. It confirms our investment
strategy.

Another strategic sector is micromobility. 2021 was definitely the e-bike

boom in Europe, and Iʼm looking forward to see how the market will
evolve next year, especially about the after-sales and second-hands!

Page / 22
 4 Sectors

Page / 23
Electric mobility (clean energy and energy storage), Mobility platforms and Logistics &
delivery have attracted the most funding and are the fastest growing sub industries.
Total VC funding in European mobility VC funding growth in European mobility
by sub industry (2015-2021) by sub industry (2021 vs 2020)

Mobility $7.5B 5.1x

Clean Energy
platforms*

Logistics & delivery $6.3B Logistics & delivery 3.3x

Search, buy & rent $5.8B Energy Storage 3.2x

Clean Energy $5.7B Maintenance 2.9x

Energy storage $5.2B Search, buy & rent 2.4x

Vehicle production $4.3B Autonomous Sensor Tech 2.0x

Navigation & Mapping $1.3B Mobility platforms* 1.8x

Autonomous Sensor Tech $1.3B Vehicle production 1.5x

Maintenance $445M Navigation & mapping 1.0x

Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. *Refers to the Dealroom “Mobility” sub industry focused on
Page / 24 mobility platforms for car sharing, ride sharing, ride hailing. For details see methodology and definition.
Micromobility, 10-min delivery and the EV charging and battery space
are among the fastest growing trends in European mobility.

Total VC funding in European mobility VC funding growth in European mobility

by selected trends (2015-2021) by selected trends (2021 vs 2020)

EV battery $5.5B 10 min delivery* 35x

10 min delivery* $4.2B EV charging 11x

Micromobility $3.3B EV battery 3.8x

Industrial logistics $2.4B Industrial logistics 3.1x

EV charging $1.2B Micromobility 1.7x

Founded in: 2015

Founded in: March 2020
Funding raised: $67M + $150M in
Total funding raised: $1.3B
SPAC private placement

$1.5B valuation
$1.2M Seed $44M Series A $290M Series B $1.0B Series C $17M Series A €12M Series A €33M Series B
SPAC IPO

Aug 2020 Dec 2020 Mar 2021 Sep 2021 (Jun 2019) (May 2020) (Feb 2021) (Oct 2021)

Source: Dealroom.co. Mobility refers to the “Transportation” industry in Dealroom. For details see methodology and definition.
Page / 25 *Considered as part of the foodtech industry in Dealroom, since still mostly focused on groceries delivery .
 The macroeconomic environment increased the shift towards
greener modes of mobility, both for consumers and professionals.

“ We started VelyVelo convinced that bikes are

probably the best vehicle to deliver packages in
grounded cities. We provide comprehensive
Asmaa Chakir Alaoui
CEO at Velyvelo

solutions to power the revolution in food delivery,

10min-delivery and the e-commerce market.”

Dieu Ly Tran
Consumer research at
Lufthansa innovation hub
“ We saw people change their habits with the
pandemic. In last mile mobility we witnessed a shift
towards micromobility and the operators are
improving monetization with new payment and
subscription models.”

Page / 26
Micromobility is an opportunity to substitute car ownership for
short distance trips.

Why is micromobility Short Distance Medium Distance Long Distance

important for Europe Bike and Scooters (0–7.5 km) Ride Hailing and Sharing Car-Sharing (20+ km)
(7.5–20 km)
In UK trips shorter than 3
miles makes 67% of all trips.
In Germany 59%.*

Change of habits from the

pandemic, increased
environmental awareness
and collaboration with the
cities are unlocking the
micromobility opportunity in
Europe.

Page / 27 Source: Dealroom.co *Inrix “Micromobility Potential in the US, UK and Germany”
Europe is now leading the way for micromobility innovation with over
$1.4B of investments in 2021, as much as US and China combined.
Global VC investment in micromobility operators by year Most valuable European micromobility
operators: » view online
▊ Europe ▊ USA ▊ China ▊ Rest of Asia ▊ Rest of the World

$2.0B $1.7B

$1.5B

$1.0B

$0.5B $1.1B
$346M
16

16

17

17

18

18

19

19

20

20

21

21
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20
H1

H2

H1

H2

H1

H2

H1

H2

H1

H2

H1

H2

Page / 28 Source: Dealroom.co.

Micromobility is maturing and consolidating. Leading operators are
increasing their M&A activity.

Micromobility operators consolidation Selected micromobility

operators acquisitions

Micromobility is now a maturing sector going Dec 2021 Tier acquired the italian operations of
under consolidation. Italian operations Wind mobility to enter this new market.
In the past, we used to see a fierce war for
market share with several operators in each Nov 2021 Tier acquired German bike-sharing platform
city battling for user onboarding. to accelerate its expansion to e-bikes.
Now, players are expanding more carefully
with tenders. Tier acquired the e-mopeds and charging
Feb 2020
infrastructure of failed Berlin-based Coup
Several micromobility operators are now to launch its own service in the city.
going public such as Donkey republic, Helbiz,
Apr 2021 Helbiz acquired Italian e-moped sharing
Bird, Gogoro. Others will join soon such as
platform Mimoto to add e-mopeds to its
Lime next year. offering of e-scooters and e-bikes.
M&A is also increasing with the biggest
operators acquiring smaller players to expand Dec 2020
Helbiz acquired Skip operations in
geographically or launch new services. Washington, DC to bolster its US expansion.

Page / 29 Source: Dealroom.co *Inrix “Micromobility Potential in the US, UK and Germany”
Micromobility operators are still unprofitable, but investors keep
believing in their long term potential.
EV/revenue multiples
2021 saw, for the first time, micromobility operators 42x
go public. 23x
Micromobility operators have a valuation premium 10x 8.8x 7.3x 4.5x 4.1x
6.4x
(7.3-23x vs 4-5x) in respect to ride-hailing operators.
Grab is an exception due to its superapp ambitions.
Micromobility operators such as Donkey and Helbiz IPO May Aug Nov
2022*
Oct Dec May Mar
date 2021 2021 2021 2018 2021 2019 2019
command the higher premium, despite having the
worse EBITDA margin (highly negative).
Bird claims to be on its way to profitability thanks to Revenues (logarithmic scale) $17B $3.2B
its recent change from full-stack micromobility $0.6B $0.7B
$0.2B $0.3B
operator to technology provider. $13M
$5M
Gogoroʼs hybrid model has been EBITDA positive
since 2019, also Niu (e-bike seller).

It is still a long way for micromobility operators to get

EBITDA margin (% of revenues)
to a scale comparable to ride-hailing giants. The hope
-46% -270% -8.1% 3.6% 8.3% -34% -4.8% 2.8%
is for margins to improve with scale without 0
accumulating too wide losses.

Source: Dealroom.co For Public companies like Uber and Lyft 2021 projection figures have been used, for companies in the process of going
Page / 30 public, estimation based on last reported quarter have been used. *SPAC deal announced in Sep 2021 to be completed next year.
Europe is still behind on Electric mobility investments but it is growing the fastest.
Europe is also leading in electric vehicle adoption, especially the Nordics.

Share of plug-in electric vehicles in

Total VC funding in Electric Mobility (2016-2021)
new passenger car sales (2020)

United States €36B 74.8%

Norway
Iceland 45%
Asia €26B
Sweden 32.2%
Netherlands 24.9%
Europe €15B
Finland 18.1%
Denmark 16.4%
Switzerland 14.3%
VC funding growth in Electric Mobility Portugal 13.5%
(2021 vs 2020) Germany 13.5%
Luxembourg 11.4%
Europe 2.2x France 11.3%
Belgium 10.7%
Asia $1.7x United Kingdom 10.7%
Austria 9.5%
United States $1.5x Ireland 7.4%
China 6.2%
United States 2.3%

Page / 31 Source: Dealroom.co

 Investment into the EV charging infrastructure
is up 11x from last year, to $1B.
European VC funding » Explore 100+ EV Charging startups
into EV charging across 9 categories here

$1.0B

11x

$88M

2020 2021
 Investment into the EV battery value chain
is up 3.8x from last year, to $3.3B.
European VC funding » Explore 140+ EV Battery startups
into EV battery across 15 categories here

$3.3B

3.8x

$839M

2020 2021
Explore the key themes
driving Mobility.

» Micromobility

» Global mobility landscape

» EV Charging

» EV Batteries

» Car and motor insurance

 Get the latest mobility insights.

Impact Marketplace Mobility Clubʼs Mobility Insights

newsletter newsletter Monthly access to exclusive content: sectoral and thematic
Covering sustainable and Covering micromobility analysis, mappings, interviews, debriefs following key tech &
electric mobility and logistic & delivery mobility events, insights from our international offices.

» Subscribe Now » Subscribe Now » Join the Mobility Club

Venture capital methodology and definitions.

Startups, scaleups, grownups

Venture capital investment Taxonomy
and tech
Companies designed to grow fast. Investment numbers refer to rounds such This report focuses on the Mobility
Generally, such companies are as Seed, Series A, B, C, …. late stage, and industry. This industry is referred as
VC-investable businesses. growth equity rounds. “Transportation” in the Dealroom
Sometimes they can become very big taxonomy.
(e.g. $1B+ valuation). Venture capital investment figures
exclude debt or other non-equity The transportation industry is divided
This report focuses, unless specified, on funding, lending capital, grants and ICOs. into the following sub-industries:
companies in the information age, i.e. Mobility, Search, Buy & Rent,
after 1990. When startups are successful, Buyouts, M&A, secondary rounds, and Maintenance, Navigation & Mapping,
they develop into scaleups (>50 people), IPOs are treated as exits: excluded from Autonomous & Sensor Tech, Vehicle
grownups (>500 people) and result in big funding data. Production, Logistics & Delivery. A
companies, like NorthVolt or Arrival. precise definition can be found here.
Investment rounds are sourced from
A unicorn is defined as a rapidly scaling public disclosures including press Sub topics like micromobility and EV
company (and tech enabled) that has releases, news, filings and verified battery are represented by tags in the
reached a $1 billion valuation, on the user-submitted information. platform. This can be under one single
basis of a funding round (unrealised), industry/sub industry or across multiple
acquisition or IPO (realised). of them.

Page / 36 Source: Dealroom.co.