Start-up for e-mopeds Unu raises 18 million euros

The latest news from Unu did not sound good. The start-up has now decided to get out of the sharing business and focus on the B2B business. Investors are convinced: Unu raises 18 million euros in a current financing round.

Things are looking up again for the e-moped provider Unu: the Berlin-based company has raised 18 million euros in a recent financing round, according to start-up scene reports. The existing investors are Berlin-based venture capitalist Capnamic Ventures, Iris Capital from France and VC Ponooc from the Netherlands. A strategic investor from Singapore is a new addition. The money will be used to drive forward the production of e-mopeds.

Unu has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic: Deliveries of the e-mopeds were actually due to start in 2019, but delivery problems from suppliers meant that there were always shortages of individual parts. CEO Pascal Blum is now restructuring the start-up: the sharing division is being discontinued, the workforce has been reduced from 120 to 85 employees and the service is now only offered in Paris in France, while the contracts with the Dutch partners have been terminated. It is a radical reorganization designed to keep the company on the market. The sharing business is highly competitive and Unu would have to compete with other, established providers.

Founded in 2013, the start-up sells zero-emission e-mopeds, which are now available for B2B customers to buy. Unu opened its first flagship store in Berlin a few weeks ago. Co-founder Elias Atahi left the company in 2019. Blum continues to run Unu and is confident about the future: "We have all the parts together for the first half of the year to be able to complete the scooters and deliver them in mid-February," the CEO told Gründerszene.