Electric scooters are quite convenient to use, especially for short distance commutes. These vehicles manage to get you from one point to another in a relatively lesser time and leave you free from responsibilities such as owning a vehicle, finding a parking slot and maintaining the same from time to time.
France is a startup hub in Europe and is one of the countries that has attracted entrepreneurs from other countries to introduce their services over there. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that France is home to some exciting tech companies. Given that electric scooter is a booming market sector and leading e-bike startups including Bird and Lime are already trending in cities like Paris and Lyon, we have listed electric scooter startups with their roots in France who are giving tough competition to these global brands.
Cityscoot (Paris)
Founders: Bertrand Fleurose
Funding: €55 million
Paris-based Cityscoot is an electric scooter sharing service operating since 2014. It lets users access a network of electric scooters for short distance trips within the city. Users can use its app to pick up and drop off the electric scooters any time during the day. There is a maintenance team, which tracks parked scooters and replaces batteries. Cityscoot charges €0.20 per minute if users buy a pack of minutes, which is around €3 per ride. Each scooter is rented for 4 to 6 riders per day.
RedE (Nancy)
Founders: Etienne Mao, Valentin Dillenschneider
RedE was founded in 2015 by two business school classmates. It designs, manufactures and markets electric scooters for last mile businesses. The company was founded with the intention to become the most efficient and reliable smart e-scooter for the last mile services in the world. This way, it also takes part in the energy transition with the use of electric scooters.
KNOT (Strasbourg)
Founders: Arthur Keller, Mikhaylova Polina
Funding: €60k
Established in 2016, KNOT builds automated a kick scooter rental system. The company cares about vehicle safety and quality. Their scooters are designed and produced to be intensive for urban use. It has both electrical and mechanical scooters with advanced braking systems and big wheels. There are charging and locking stations ideal for urban users. Interestingly, the company also provides advanced insurance plans along with Allianz.
eccity (Grasse)
Founders: Christophe Cornillon
Funding: €100k
eccity is aimed at making cities breathable with the increased use of electric scooters. Founded in 2011, eccity designs and manufactures 100% electric scooters. The company intends to democratise a mode of transportation, which is light, handy, alive, quiet, comfortable and emission-free. The service is backed by a network of authorised service centres. Also, it has a community for customers called The Eccity Club.
Freeway (Nice)
Founders: Raoul Parienti
Funding: €1.7 million
Founded in 2013, Freeway is an ultra-light electric tricycle, which can be folded and unfolded in seconds. It can be dragged like a wheeled suitcase. It has a range of 30 km, which can be doubled with a huge battery and a maximum speed of 25 km/h. This electric vehicle has a lightweight profile of 12 kg. It not only guarantees convenience but also stability and safety.
WeTrott (Versailles)
Founders: Christophe Basset, Gregory Hanquet, Pascal Chauvin
WeTrott established in 2017 has launched a pavement scooter sharing service. It has installed self-service electric charging stations that can house 15 electric scooters. At the time of rental, the station also provides a helmet and insurance against personal injury as well as assuring maximum safety for users. The WeTrott electric scooters have double brakes, lights at the front and rear, shock absorbers at the front and rear and flexible tires. The speed of these vehicles does not exceed 21 km/h.
Interestingly, all the materials used for making the station are reused or recycled systematically at their workshops. Also, broken or damaged electric scooters re-repaired and put up for sale.
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
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