E-scooter sharing startup Neuron Mobility raises US$18.5m in Series A funds

E-SCOOTER sharing startup Neuron Mobility on Monday said it has raised US$18.5 million in Series A funding led by GSR Ventures and Square Peg.

Existing investors Seedplus and Enterprise Singapore's investment arm SEEDS Capital also participated in the round, bringing the total funding raised to US$22.3 million.

Neuron mobility will use the funds to accelerate their expansion in Australia and New Zealand, branch into other Asia-Pacific markets and further develop its technology, it said in a press statement.

Headquartered in Singapore, Neuron operates across Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, and has ceased e-scooter sharing operations in Singapore and Malaysia.

Founded in 2016, the startup now owns over a few thousand scooters, said chief executive Zachary Wang, and operates mainly in Australia, where it won a permit in June to operate 60 per cent of the scooter fleet allocation in Brisbane City in Queensland.

The startup has also secured licences to operate in Darwin City and Auckland come 2020, and will be the sole operator in the former.

The e-scooter sharing startup has started building its own e-scooters - the Neuron N3 - since January this year, which Mr Wang says can enhance rider safety through in-built measures such as fall detection, a helmet incentive programme and geofencing technology that can assign low-speed zones, no riding zones and no parking zones in any given city.

Richard Lim, co-founder and managing director of GSR Ventures, said: "The company's technology-first approach to addressing local transport needs was refreshing and compelling."

"It presents the opportunity for them to become a global game-changer, and we are excited to embark on the journey of revolutionising urban transport together," he added.