Neuron e-mobility to expand in Australia and New Zealand

Electric scooter rental operator Neuron Mobility has successfully raised US$12m in its latest investment round, bringing its total Series A capital raising to US$30.5m, which will accelerate Neuron’s international expansion post COVID-19.

Neuron aims to expand into at least five new cities across Australia and New Zealand within the next year, creating a total 400 jobs, assisted by the funding round co-led by returning investors Square Peg Capital and GSR Ventures.

Since its last funding round in December, Neuron has launched in a further eight cities in Australia and New Zealand, announced its entry into the UK market (Slough) and introduced a range of industry-leading safety features.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen interest boom in micro mobility, and more cities and consumers are realising the potential of e-scooters as a safe, convenient and socially distanced transport option, Neuron says.

Neuron has partnered with councils across Australia and New Zealand to operate in nine locations including Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Canberra, Townsville and Auckland.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in Australia, Neuron reports that one in five users had never ridden an e-scooter before, and since then many have actively chosen to change their travel habits. Increasingly concerned with social distancing, Australian and New Zealand riders have increased their average e-scooter trip distance by 23% to 2.6km, while the average duration has risen by 10% to more than 14 minutes.

“Cities across the world are rethinking their transport systems and increasingly people are looking for a safe, inexpensive and socially-distanced way to travel post COVID-19,” Neuron Mobility chief executive Zachary Wang says.

He adds that Neuron has a host of exciting new features it will roll out soon.

Operating a fleet of 4000 e-scooters, the company’s 400,000 Australian and New Zealand riders have completed nearly two million trips and four million kilometres of city travel.