Japan e-scooter maker raises $33.7m

Anri, SMBC Venture Capital, Zerin Future Partners, Chiba Dojo Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and I-nest Capital also participated. They were joined by Mori Tust, GMO Internet Group, Green Coinvest, Chishima Real Estate, SMBC Nikko Securities, and 31 Ventures, a joint venture of Global Brain and property developer Mitsui Fudosan.

The round included JPY 700m in debt and asset financing. It brings total funding since the company’s inception in 2018 to JPY 9.1bn, including a JPY 1.2bn round in 2021.

Luup is developing short-distance mobility infrastructure, including fleets of compact, single-passenger e-scooters and e-bikes across Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Utsunomiya, and Kobe. It describes its mission as providing a high-density sharing service that can “make the entire city a station front.”

The company claims that it will reduce CO2 emissions by popularizing electric mobility and has made a feature of the idea that its vehicles can be used by the elderly, playing to the local ageing trend. Atsumi Kanaya, a general manager at 31 Ventures, noted that the company’s infrastructure would increase the value of real estate.

Luup launched its e-scooter business in April 2021 and now claims to have a dominant position in the local micro-mobility space, having constructed more than 3,000 stations to date. It will use the fresh capital to further expand the number of stations while developing its vehicle and app technologies.

The company hopes to see an increase in micro-mobility adoption following government revisions to the Road Traffic Act, which are scheduled to be implemented in July this year. CEO Daiki Okai said he was receiving inquiries from property owners, municipalities, and companies.

"Luup is a rare company that is truly trying to create a social infrastructure,” Takashi Chiba, a partner at Spiral, said in a statement. “It is no mean feat to build a service that can be called a transportation infrastructure, as it requires cooperation of numerous stakeholders, including users, landowners, local governments, relevant ministries, investors, and public opinion."

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Early-stage
• Consumer
• Cleantech
• Infrastructure
• Japan
• Spiral Ventures Japan
• SMBC Venture Capital
• Mitsubishi UFJ Capital
• Global Brain Corporation
• Transportation
• Electric Vehicles