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Voi to invest $3 million to improve scooter services worldwide

Posted: 15 December 2020 | | No comments yet

Voi’s investment fund will provide a cash injection for several projects intended to make the company’s operations safer and more sustainable.

Voi will invest $3 million

Micromobility provider Voi Technology has announced the launch of the City Innovation Fund – a $3-million commitment to expand parking, improve safety, and advance sustainability of micromobility vehicles and operations.

According to Voi, the fund’s investment priorities include expanded parking options that reduce pavement clutter to ensure cities remain accessible, as well road safety innovations focusing on novel approaches to infrastructure, rider education, and vehicle technology. In addition, the investment will fund projects that improve the sustainability of operations, including support for research and advocacy.

Voi’s first round of investments include:

  • Oonee, a company offering modular and secure public parking solutions for e-scooters and bikes. The funding will be used to build a new parking pod in New York to benefit the City’s essential workers.
  • MaaSLab at University College London, which will use the funding to advance research in net-zero-carbon, on-demand transport.
  • Nortical, a software company that collects and analyses battery usage, which will support Voi in improving lithium-ion battery circularity through a pilot programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voi says it will be looking to add external funding sources on top of Voi’s own resources to the cause and will continually announce and showcase further collaborations and projects as they materialise.

 “Bicycles and scooters are a rapidly growing component of New York’s transportation landscape. The lack of free, secure parking infrastructure is a problem that disproportionately affects essential workers and the less affluent,” said Shabazz Stuart, CEO and Co-Founder of Oonee.

“For over two years, Oonee has fought to bring this much-needed service to our community’s streets, with well-designed, centrally located parking stations available 24/7. As the city prepares to launch a shared e-scooter program, we must invest in the infrastructure that this new mode of transport requires. Our partnership with Voi will help us reach that goal.”

Dr. Manos Chaniotakis, Lecturer at MaaSLab UCL, said: “E-scooters and other light electric vehicles can help close the first/last mile gap, and can be key to a future of mobility as a service (MaaS). This collaboration will allow us to better understand the transportation system and travel behaviour to make progress toward net-zero-carbon, multimodal transport.”

 “We have had the pleasure of having Voi as a development partner from our very early days,” added Kristoffer Syveren, CTO and Co-Founder of Nortica.

“This pilot allows us to apply our next-gen battery management system. We are excited to support Voi and the shift in urban mobility towards micro-mobility, but also the shift to improved battery utilisation and responsibility.”