18 million euros for Unu Motors

At the same time, the start-up undergoes a change in strategy. The sharing division of the electric scooter manufacturer is being scrapped and the workforce is shrinking.

Unu Motors from Berlin receives an investment of 18 million euros. This is reported by Gründerszene. Existing investors in particular have invested money in the Berlin start-up. These include the Berlin VC Capnamic Ventures, the French investor Iris Capital and the Dutch venture capitalist Ponooc. A strategic investor from Singapore is new to the investor round.

The start-up intends to use the money to accelerate vehicle production and focus more on the B2C business. To do this, it is giving up its sharing division completely, which is tantamount to a change in strategy. "To be honest, we got bogged down with our strategy," says co-founder Pascal Blum to Gründerszene. "We went into four markets, built a new scooter and developed a sharing solution at the same time." Some private customers are still waiting for their pre-ordered scooters today.

The change in strategy has reduced the number of employees from 120 to 85. The company only founded the sharing division in 2019. "In the sharing business, we would become an interchangeable supplier where the brand, design or quality count for little," says Blum. Here, it's all about price and the capacity to scale. "This is in stark contrast to the private customer business and we would have had to make many compromises," says Blum to Gründerszene.

With the strategic partner from Singapore, the Berlin start-up is now hoping to improve its supply chains. "We now have all the parts together for the first half of the year so that we can complete the scooters and deliver them in mid-February," says Blum.