• Home
  • News
  • Analysis
  •  
    Regions
    • Australasia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Greater China
    • North Asia
    • South Asia
    • North America
    • Europe
    • Central Asia
    • MENA
  •  
    Funds
    • LPs
    • Buyout
    • Growth
    • Venture
    • Renminbi
    • Secondary
    • Credit/Special Situations
    • Infrastructure
    • Real Estate
  •  
    Investments
    • Buyout
    • Growth
    • Early stage
    • PIPE
    • Credit
  •  
    Exits
    • IPO
    • Open market
    • Trade sale
    • Buyback
  •  
    Sectors
    • Consumer
    • Financials
    • Healthcare
    • Industrials
    • Infrastructure
    • Media
    • Technology
    • Real Estate
  • Events
  • Chinese edition
  • Data & Research
  • Weekly Digest
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  • Events
  • Sign in
    • You are currently accessing unquote.com via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0)870 240 8859

      Email: customerservices@incisivemedia.com

      • Sign in
     
      • Saved articles
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
  • Follow us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
  • Free Trial
  • Subscribe
  • Weekly Digest
  • Chinese edition
  • Data & Research
    • Latest Data & Research
      Ape-directory
      AVCJ Private Equity Online Directory

      With its wide network of senior industry contacts, the directory is the most comprehensive online directory on private equity and venture capital in Asia. It is easy to navigate, enabling access to Asian private equity firms and professionals.

      Read more
      2016-china-cover
      Regional Reports

      The reports review the year's local private equity and venture capital activity and are filled with up-to-date data and intelligence on fundraising, investments, exits and M&A. The regional reports also feature information on key companies.

      Read more
      2016-pevc-cover
      Industry Review

      Asian Private Equity and Venture Capital Review provides an independent overview of the private equity, venture capital and M&A activities in the Asia region. It delivers insights on investments made, capital raised, sector specific figures and more.

      Read more
      AVCJ Database

      AVCJ Database is the ultimate link between Asian dealmakers and those who provide advisory, financial, legal and technological services to the private equity, venture capital and M&A industries. It is packed with facts and figures on more than 153,000 companies and almost 117,000 transactions.

      Read more
AVCJ
AVCJ
  • Home
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Regions
  • Funds
  • Investments
  • Exits
  • Sectors
  • You are currently accessing unquote.com via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0)870 240 8859

    Email: customerservices@incisivemedia.com

    • Sign in
 
    • Saved articles
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
AVCJ
  • Southeast Asia

Deal focus: Affirma sees promise in Asia e-scooters

beam-2
  • Justin Niessner
  • 28 February 2022
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Google plus  
  • Save this article  
  • Send to  

Affirma Capital has led a USD 93m Series B round for Singapore-based e-scooter provider Beam, citing its ability to internationalise a locally-focused and increasingly popular business model

If there’s one lesson from Uber’s failure to make a stand in Asia, it’s that last-mile and municipal transportation are local concerns. It is impractical for a micro-mobility business to scale across several countries, maintaining relevant branding in each market while juggling the various challenges of city-level governments. Until it isn’t.

More like traditional car rental businesses than apps, public-use electric scooters and e-bikes have emerged as a micro-mobility category with a strong local feel but scalability across jurisdictions. Singapore’s Neuron Mobility, for example, has demonstrated this thesis in recent years with expansions in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Canada, and the UK.

The smart approach to this strategy is usually a matter of sticking to tender-based markets, where city councils grant licenses to 2-3 competitors in a specific time window. Non-tender markets – including much of Southeast Asia – are tougher to crack, which is where fellow Singapore e-scooter player Beam is making its mark.

Beam raised a USD 93m Series B round last week with plans to enter Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Turkey. Affirma Capital led the round with support from Sequoia Capital India, Hana Ventures, ICT Capital, EDBI, AC Ventures, RTP Global, and SMRT Corporation, among others.

The company is currently operational in in 35 cities across Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. It approaches tender-led markets as a priority and non-tender markets on a selective basis after significant monitoring of the local licensing environment and regulatory framework.

Thuy Dropsey, a managing director and co-head of ASEAN at Affirma, said her firm was attracted to Beam’s ability to adapt to jurisdictions with meaningfully different operational environments while maintaining speed of deployment and capital efficiency.

“The technological agility allowing them to do that has been the value point for us. That’s made them the lead in Asia Pacific," Dropsey said, adding that Beam has achieved country-level profitability in each of its markets to date. Group-level profitability is expected in the near term.

“Their approach is to work directly with city councils, and they will not enter cities unless there’s strong alignment. It’s a lengthy process, and it’s required a lot of work from the company to present to the cities the benefits and challenges and how they can address them to their satisfaction.”

Beam has also made a feature of its safety systems. Most of the technology is GPS-guided, making it possible for the maximum speed of scooters and e-bikes to be capped depending on the traffic zone. In addition, it is possible for engines to automatically switch off if the driver rolls onto a footpath. There are plans to develop a system to detect whether a driver is drunk.

Green credentials are a big part of the proposition as well. On top of geographic expansion, the Series B capital will be used to roll out Beam’s latest scooter model, Saturn, which has fully swappable batteries with sufficient capacity for 110 km of riding range. This is double the average e-scooter battery capacity.

Beam claims to have grown its revenue 15x since the start of 2020, despite experiencing mobility restrictions caused by COVID-19. As cities emerge from lockdown, demand for safe and sustainable micro-mobility is expected to accelerate.

“There are so many players in this space because it’s developed and profitable in terms of unit economics and the technology has allowed these businesses to be very sustainable,” Dropsey added. “I think more and more cities will adopt this technology.”

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Google plus  
  • Save this article  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Southeast Asia
  • Cleantech
  • Technology
  • Early-stage
  • Singapore
  • Affirma Capital
  • Sequoia Capital
  • EDBI
  • AC Ventures
  • RTP Global
  • Transportation

More on Southeast Asia

edenfarm-eden-farm-2
Deal focus: EdenFarm rethinks Indonesian agriculture
  • Southeast Asia
  • 08 Feb 2023
package-parcel-delivery-logistics
Singapore accelerator targets packaging industry
  • Southeast Asia
  • 07 Feb 2023
avcj-awards-2022-responsible-investment-aston-zheng-sarah-pang-oliver-stratton
AVCJ Awards 2022: Responsible Investment: Sido Muncul
  • Southeast Asia
  • 06 Feb 2023
southeast-asia-map
Southeast Asia's Openspace seeks $650m for latest vintage
  • Southeast Asia
  • 03 Feb 2023

Latest News

catherine-shih
LP interview: Quilvest Capital Partners

Fund-of-funds Quilvest Capital Partners was an early-mover in PE globally but has maintained a lean profile that speaks to its family office roots. It is pressing ahead with a China and India-focused Asia strategy

  • Greater China
  • 08 February 2023
edenfarm-eden-farm-2
Deal focus: EdenFarm rethinks Indonesian agriculture

Indonesia’s EdenFarm is tackling Indonesia’s fragmented agribusiness space with a B2B fresh produce marketplace that not only helps distribute crops, but helps them grow in the first place

  • Southeast Asia
  • 08 February 2023
jackie-vullinghs-airtree
Deal focus: Serving the sole trader

Accounting software provider Hnry has built up a following among freelancers and self-employed tradespeople in New Zealand and Australia. A USD 25m Series B will help it look further afield

  • Australasia
  • 07 February 2023
kunal-shroff-chryscapital
Fund focus: ChrysCapital accumulates $1.4b India war chest

For ChrysCapital Partners, raising India’s largest private equity fund reflects the growth in the economy and in the investment opportunity, with bigger deals across more sectors on the agenda

  • South Asia
  • 07 February 2023
Back to Top

Most read

catherine-shih
LP interview: Quilvest Capital Partners
edenfarm-eden-farm-2
Deal focus: EdenFarm rethinks Indonesian agriculture
jackie-vullinghs-airtree
Deal focus: Serving the sole trader
kunal-shroff-chryscapital
Fund focus: ChrysCapital accumulates $1.4b India war chest
china-map-globe-2
Monolith sets $250m hard cap for China fund
  • About AVCJ
  • Advertise
  • Contacts
  • About ION Analytics
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy policy
  • Group disclaimer
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters

© Merger Market

© Mergermarket Limited, 10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1BE - Company registration number 03879547

Digital publisher of the year 2010 & 2013

Digital publisher of the year 2010 & 2013