Aiming to bring one million electric cars to German roads by 2020, the German federal government recently introduced a subsidy for purchasers of electric cars. Demand for this subsidy has reportedly neither been very high. According to e-scooter start-up Kumpan, this subsidy does not apply to electric scooters.
Despite this and an apparent disinterest in embracing the electric cars, the startup hedges that interest will be nevertheless be keen for e-scooters. And why not? One can not disregard the simple facts that scooters are much more efficient in large cities and help people be more mobile while not emitting any particulate matter, believes Patrik Tykesson, one of the three Kumpan managing directors Another simple fact: scooters are einfach geil. Who has never fantasized about riding through the streets of Rome (or Berlin, Prague, Barcelona, Paris) like Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant?
Watch out Vespa: Kumpan founders want to make the difference and have been offering Kumpan e-scooters with 500€ discount on its website since 1 August, a premium (still seemingly available at this writing) until the six-digit budget for this purpose is complete.
This week the Tykesson brothers and start-up founders are revving up for their next adventure: bringing more e-scooters not only to the autobahn but to the rest of Europe by linking with Companisto and tapping into the crowd for investors. In just two days, the e-scooter’s growth financing campaign is poised to surpass 200K€ with the confidence of over 243 investors for the 2.78% offered. The startup aims to raise 500K€ by 7 January 2017.
“Our goal is to convince even more people of two-wheeled electric mobility with the crowd’s help and to enable these people to participate in our company,” Patrik Tykesson stated. “We first noticed electric scooters in China and thought that this was a highly innovative product. Still, we wanted to do something of our own from the beginning. Our scooters cover longer distances than gas scooters and make us the market leader in terms of reach.”
Founded in 2010 by brothers Daniel, Patrik and Philipp Tykesson, the start-up based in the German city of Remagen has built e-scooters in a 50s and 60s retro look that utilize battery technology from the 21st century and is valued at 17,600,000€. A portable battery system enables a reach of up to 150 km. The company reported selling 2,500 scooters since 2010 and now counts 35 employees, including product designers, mechanical engineers, and mechanics, who design and assemble the scooters in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate as part of its team.
With regard to B2B sales, Kumpan plans to sell networkable scooters by next year, thus enabling scooter sharing and scooter rental to become more convenient. The start-up’s latest product is a electric foldable kickboard approved for use on the road that supports users.
“Many people commute from suburban areas or want to cover short distances within large cities,” Tykesson added. “People can easily take our kickboards into other means of transportation.”In this way, mobility becomes not just more efficient, but also less expensive, for the Kumpan scooters’ cost of use per 100 kilometers is just EUR 0.99.”
The Tykesson brothers hope to convince investors and supporters not just through their successful proof-of-concept stage and numerous customers, but also through their start-up’s KPIs.
“Our company’s average growth rate in the past five years was 375%. We reached the break-even point as early as in 2012,” CFO Daniel Tykesson commented.
Kumpan plans to use the growth capital to further improve its digital marketing activities, its online store and its products (e.g., their networkability). Depending on the total investment, the founders plan to expand into five to ten other European countries by next year. The company already has representative offices in Canada and Shanghai with plans to open a U.S. outlet in 2018. In Germany, Kumpan collaborates with 200 dealers, offering investors a premium if they buy an e-scooter.
Kumpan offers three different models. The “1953” and “1954” scooters are both part of the 25 km/h and the 45 km/h segment and may be used with either a moped or a car license priced at 3,849€ and 3,999€, respectively. Using an online configurator, customers can choose the color of the paintwork and of the seat, the tires, and an additional battery themselves.
To date, Companisto has more than 60,000 registered investors who have invested a total of over EUR 32.5 million in 64 financing campaigns for start-ups and growth companies. For more detailed information about Kumpan’s e-scooter campaign and investor rewards on Companisto, click here.
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