Deal focus: Gogoro takes its scooters global

The electric vehicle (EV) space is so noisy and competitive, even a $300 million venture investment can go relatively unnoticed. When Taiwan-based scooter manufacturer Gogoro announced its latest funding round at this sum, the media reception was quickly washed out by the hubbub around Mercedes-Benz’s $1 billion production challenge to Tesla Motors.

For some observers, the takeaway was a lesson in the difficulties of marketing new technology in a ubiquitous industry already populated with household names. This scenario suggests that EV, perhaps more than any other industry, requires business models that showcase unmistakable differentiation, and even utter uniqueness.

This thinking seems to motivate much of the Gogoro master plan. The company focuses on scooters as opposed to cars, employs a first-of-its-kind recharging system, and avoids the industry classification implied by its own flagship product.  

“Gogoro doesn’t consider itself a scooter company but an innovative technology company offering a scalable and effective solution for powering EVs in the world’s most densely populated cities,” explains Horace Luke, the company’s founder and CEO. “With this latest funding, Gogoro is driving greater innovation around battery swapping as well as expanding into new categories, industries, and geographies.”

The Smartscooter’s key design feature is a battery that can be swapped out at special stations, eliminating the need to wait for recharging. Customers pay a $25 monthly subscription fee to use the company’s 421 stations, which are dotted across Taiwan and concentrated every 1.3 kilometers in Taipei. Additional services include 24-hour support and bike maintenance.

The deal was led by first-time investors Temasek Holdings and Generation Investment Management, a London-based firm whose founders include former US Vice President Al Gore, along with Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation and multinational energy player Engie. Existing backers Panasonic Corporation and Samuel Yin, chairman of Taiwan conglomerate Ruentex Group, also took part.

Although a European expansion is already underway, Southeast Asia is seen as a priority. Potential governmental headwinds around station deployment notwithstanding, the region is expected to represent a natural springboard thanks to a number of similarities to Taiwan’s scooter culture and transportation networks. The Philippines and Indonesia have been tipped as likely beachheads.

“There’s a lot of money going into the electric vehicle space, so we’re monitoring the developments very closely,” says one investor in the company. “The electric scooter market is not as competitive as electric cars and there are no clear winners at this point in time, but eventually maybe two or three companies are going to go global in this space.”

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Expansion
• Taiwan (China)
• Southeast Asia
• Growth capital
• Temasek Holdings