Responsible Fundraising in an Irresponsible Industry
Veo’s $16 million Series A funding round illustrates the future of financially and environmentally sustainable micromobility
by Candice Xie, Co-founder and CEO, Veo
Big news today! After having built the first truly profitable and sustainable major micromobility company, Veo just closed a Series A funding round of $16 million from Autotech Ventures, Up.Partners, FJ Labs, and Interplay Ventures. Yes, we figured out the business first, and now we are moving to scale, alongside investors who share our philosophy on responsible business practices. How absurd is it that this is truly unique in our line of business?
The truth is, our industry has demonstrated a terrible track record of managing money. Second-wave Uberites rushed from ridesharing to dockless scooters and brought the worst lessons you could have learned from the early TNC battles, including the philosophy of steamrolling cities. Micromobility is a different industry with a fundamentally different business model, and they ended up throwing endless funds into the gutter. Bikes were literally thrown off cliffs by irritated neighbors, while companies trashed bikes and scooters because they were cheaper to replace than to repair. Silicon Valley aficionados were in a race to unicorn status to the detriment of our cause. Sadly, their arrogant moves quickly defined the micromobility industry’s first half-decade of business.
That has never been the case at Veo. Our long-term eye and prudent spending intentionally kept us out of the limelight while scooter and bike-sharing companies plummeted billions of dollars into this black hole of junk hardware and cease and desist orders. While the blow-up unicorns inflated and collapsed on the front page of the news, Veo quietly grew, innovated, manufactured, and most importantly, succeeded, in more than 40 markets across the U.S.
Our in-house design and manufacturing teams brought generations of iterations to our made-for-shared-use vehicles, while competitors lost hundreds of dollars on every off-the-shelf vehicle they purchased.
Veo has always blazed its own trail in this industry, and only now, after 4 years of perfecting the model and building relationships in cities around the country, are we accepting outside funding. While we have all become accustomed to seeing multi-hundred-million-dollar fundraising rounds raised by our larger competitors, that kind of money is only necessary when you plan to lose most of it. For Veo, this funding is exactly what we need to build out our already successful business, and not a penny more. We don’t play fast and loose with anyone’s money; not our own, not our riders’, and not our investors’. By keeping our eye on the real goal, which is to overhaul a dangerously unsustainable transportation sector with fun, affordable, and shared electric vehicles, we stayed out of the fray, and are stronger for it.
How are we using this money? Here is our plan:
- Scale our programs responsibly to more cities across the U.S.
- Accelerate our innovation cycle to introduce the next iterations of vehicles to Veo’s markets
- Expand our robust community engagement and city partnership programs
This month, we are launching in two of the country’s most coveted markets– New York City and Santa Monica — after being selected from dozens of competitors. Our midwestern dedication to slow, deliberate, and sustainable growth has our “beat you to the punch” friends on their heels, or laying in the dirt.
Maybe it’s time for a little lady-splaining, boys. Fundraising should follow the business’ success, it is not a stand-alone goal of building a business. Revenue growth is one-half of the profitability measure, despite your hockey stick slide deck presentations.
See you on the streets.
