Taiwan based e-scooter sharing startup, WeMo closed its “multimillion-dollar” series A funding round on 17 June 2020.
The series A round was led by AppWorks, a regional accelerator and early-stage Venture Capital firm. This is the Venture Capital firm’s first investment into Taiwan’s growing smart mobility sector. The funds raised can expand WeMo services in various cities across Taiwan and it also wishes to expand in other South Asian countries.
According to WeMo, it has recorded millions of rides in Taiwan. The startup wants to help countries accelerate their transitioning into smart countries. To meet its international dreams, WeMo plans to use the funds to grow its Internet of Vehicles (IoV) Research and Development centre in Taiwan. They will also recruit close to 100 hardware and software engineers over the next 3 years for roles such as front-end and back-end development, self-driving technology, vehicle telematics, and machine learning.
In Taiwan, WeMo Scooter’s smart vehicle rental service is widely-spread. Its service is open 24/7 and is app accessible. Additionally, people can rent scooters at multiple public and cooperating parking lots. The app has features like live tracking, 24/7 customer service, and insurance for all users.
Moreover, the startup was founded in 2015 and WeMo scooter was first launched in 2016. Also, the founder and CEO of WeMo Jeffrey Wu said, “WeMo has the potential to completely revolutionize transportation. At our core, we’re a technology-driven company, with a strong and open engineering culture offering competitive salaries.”
WeMo aims to become the leading Mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) provider in Asia. Also, it aims to make a cleaner, smarter, and more tech-enabled transportation ecosystem. The company claims that the global scooter-sharing market will grow to US$ 553 million by 2025, up from US$ 99.8 million in 2018. Thus, it wishes to tap this market and increase its footprint in Asia.
In Taiwan, WeMo’s major competitors are iRent, a service run by Toyota’s local sales agent Hotai Motor Group, and GoShare, operated by Taiwan’s largest e-motorcycle brand Gogoro.
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