Ride Report raises $10 million to help cities and operators manage shared bikes and scooters
Portland-based micromobility startup Ride Report just closed a $10 million round led by Unusual Ventures to better facilitate relationships between cities and operators.
Ride Report works by monitoring micromobility vehicles across cities — currently 70 worldwide — to enable legislators to better understand the impact micromobility has on their respective cities. Ride Report, in partnership with operators, offers cities data, reporting and monitoring tools to support policy guidance.
“Micromobility is entering a difficult point in its history,” Ride Report CEO Williams Henderson told TechCrunch. “We’re very bullish on the needs that citizens and residents have around more efficient modes of transportation that get them from point A to point B, but there are some growing pains.”
That’s why Ride Report is focused on building a more collaborative and trusting relationship between private operators and public entities. With the additional funding, the plan is to grow the team and start focusing on emerging markets.
“The good news is everyone is kind of in the same boat when it comes to how to manage micromobility,” Henderson said. “It’s such a new thing that there isn’t really a playbook. That’s good news because it’s rare in working with government officials and regulatory bodies that you have so much room to experiment. There will be unique constraints in Europe around privacy and GDPR, but I’m excited about that aspect because Europe has shown the way forward for the U.S.”
Ride Report currently works with 70 cities, including Portland, Oregon, Austin, Texas and New Zealand. On the operator side, Ride Report works with 19 companies including Bird, Lime and Lynx.
“We’re entering an era of cooperation that’s going to open up the entire micromobility sector,” Unusual Ventures Partner Andy Johns said in a statement. “That gets to the core of what Ride Report is about and their belief in the future of mobility — that operators and cities will increasingly work together to help the industry grow.”
Ride Report is not the only company trying to help cities make sense of micromobility. Populus, which has $3.85 million in funding, helps cities access vehicle and trip data from shared-mobility operators. But there seems to be room, given the sheer number of micromobility companies operating throughout hundreds of cities.
Source: TechCrunch
