Hopper wants to raise money from private investors

The start-up became known through the TV show "Die Höhle der Löwen". Now it wants to raise new money.

Mobility start-up Hopper wants to raise money from private investors. Together with partner Companisto, the company says it has already conducted an "angel club investment round" in which investors could get in from 10,000 euros. Now they apparently also want to address a broader audience and collect a total of 500,000 euros in investments.

The concept of the company, founded in 2019, is a hybrid of e-bike and car called Hopper. According to the startup, the vehicle should be usable without a driver's license. In addition, the Hopper requires only about one-seventh of the electricity consumed by an e-car. Mobility Hopper estimates a range of 60 kilometers for the electric motor. They presented it on the TV show "Die Höhle der Löwen," among others. Mobility Hopper then concluded pre-seed financing at the end of 2021, but without disclosing the amount.

In an interview with Startbase, co-founder Georg Schieren had announced, "With our recently closed funding round, we are now building an optimized prototype. The current one is already driving, but it is primarily a design prototype, so it is not yet suitable for test drives by external parties. We are also now testing various components from suppliers and looking at which ones we want to take into series production. In mid-2022, we will have completed the first near-series prototype, with which we will then also offer test drives. Six months later, we want to start series production, for which we will then raise capital once again."

The start-up is now looking for money again, explaining that it wants to accelerate production in this way. For private investors, such an investment can be worthwhile, but also extremely risky, as Companisto itself writes on its site: "Start-up investments are venture capital investments. Investments in startups aim for very high returns. The goal of every investment is to multiply the investment amount, i.e. to achieve several hundred percent return. At the same time, there is a high "total loss risk" with every investment.