Voi Technology’s $160 million Series C funding round

Voi Technology is an e-scooter company based in Sweden. It operates in 50+ cities across Europe, including Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Hamburg and has recently won and has recently won 16 permits to operate in UK cities, including Liverpool and Bristol.

The company had a period of rapid expansion from incorporation in 2018. However, the coronavirus pandemic and global lockdowns forced people inside and halted the use of e-scooters. This was devastating for the industry, but there is now light at the end of tunnel. On 2 December 2020, the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use. This development, along with local governments looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to crowded public transport systems, means that a reignited period of growth is forecast, rocket fuelled by the recent Series C funding round.

How we helped

Our Corporate Finance team’s financial due diligence services provided assurance to The Raine Group’s investment team, including Jason Schretter and Ari Zelman, and helped to reduce the risks associated with the transaction. 

The growth Voi has experienced created a particular challenge as well as the complexity of the group. Having only been trading for less than two years there was limited historical data. There were also 12 different entities trading across 12 countries in Europe. The coronavirus has also impacted each region and city in different ways, which has led to a variation in the local unit economics.

Our Corporate Finance team were able to quickly understand the key issues and trends of the company and industry. These were then applied to the financial forecasts for Raine to use to plan the growth trajectory post pandemic. The team were able to verify that the business model can be sustained and they also provided insight into the profitability of Voi. The limited historical data was enough to extrapolate an understanding of the unit economics and ultimately the payback time on vehicles. 

We also carried out a detailed tax assessment, identifying the key issues which are associated with a multinational business in its start-up phase. We highly commend the finance team at Voi on their ability to overcome financial and taxation issues to date.

Next steps for Voi Technology

With this investment, Voi will continue with their expansion plans and tendering for new city contracts. The coronavirus had a major short term impact, however they hope that it has sped up the uptake of micro mobility services as it offers an alternative to public transport where social distancing is not possible.

Voi plan to use this funding to invest in technology platform development, fuel growth in current Voi markets and to bring Voi’s latest e-scooter model, the Voiager 4, to more cities. In addition, Voi will further enhance the safety infrastructure of its platform, which they quote is their number one priority.