Swedish micromobility startup Voi has recorded its first profitable year after slashing costs, and says it is now eyeing a public listing.
In unaudited financial results, Voi reported €17.2m EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) for 2024, and €100k in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT).
That’s a significant improvement on 2023, when it recorded negative EBITDA of €1.7m. In 2022, it had recorded negative EBITDA of €39m.
“We’re getting to a place where we’d be a good candidate for the public markets in, say, two to three years from now,” founder Frederik Hjelm told TechCrunch.
Voi’s net revenues for the year grew 13% compared to 2023, to €132.8m. Hjelm attributed the company’s improved bottom line to cost-cutting measures, including using machine learning to predict when vehicles need maintenance and to schedule battery charging.
The company, which raised capital from investors including Balderton and Creandum, has operations in over 100 cities across 12 European countries, offering scooters and ebike services.
It’s among a cohort of European micromobility startups, all of which expanded fast across the continent up until 2021. From then on — amid a wider cooling in tech funding and bans on the number of scooters in certain cities — company valuations started to drop and the focus turned to breaking even.
Voi raised $25m in equity in 2024 at a post-money valuation of SEK 3.9bn (€340m), far below its unicorn valuation of 2021.
Not all of Voi’s competitors have been able to turn things around. Berlin-based e-scooter startup Unu and US giant Bird filed for bankruptcy in 2023, while Voi competitors Dott and Tier merged after both struggling to reach profitability.
American competitor Lime, which is also active in Europe, recorded a profit in 2023.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/voi-scooter-profitable-ipo-news/
