(Courtesy of Tier Mobility)
E-scooter startup Tier Mobility has raised $250 million in a round led by SoftBank, less than a year after closing its $100 million-plus Series B.
The new investment is Europe’s largest-ever venture capital round for a micromobility startup and pushes VC funding in the sector past last year’s record, according to PitchBook data. So far this year, investments have totaled over $480 million across 24 deals, with Tier accounting for more than half of the funding total. Other notable deals include e-bike maker VanMoof‘s $40 million capital raise in September and e-bike subscription service provider Dance‘s €15 million Series A.
Tier will use the new funds for its international expansion and to accelerate the installation of thousands of charging stations in European cities. The Berlin-based startup is also in talks to secure a significant debt facility to build more vehicles. Tier has already deployed 60,000 e-scooters across 80 cities and is now valued at just under $1 billion, according to a report from the Financial Times.
SoftBank’s investment came from its second Vision Fund. Yesterday, the Japanese giant reported a profit of 784.4 billion yen (about $7.6 billion) for its Vision Fund in Q3 2020, the fund’s highest quarterly profit ever, Bloomberg reported.
Tier’s existing investors including Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital, White Star Capital, Novator and RTP Global also participated in the round.
