Zipp Mobility raises €1.3m in funding drive

E-scooter start-up lists Barry Maloney of Balderton Capital among investors

E-scooter start-up Zipp Mobility, whose backers include former Irish rugby international Brian O'Driscoll, has successfully concluded a €1.3 million funding round.

The fundraiser was an extension of the company’s seed round and brings total investment to date to €2 million.

The company said it had secured a total of €500,000 from two prominent angel investors, including tech investor Barry Maloney of Balderton Capital, and additional €250,000 from Enterprise Ireland. It also raised €562,000 through a crowdfunding campaign on the Spark crowdfunding platform.

Zipp Mobility is operating e-scooter schemes in eight cities across Poland and the UK. It now plans to significantly increase the number of e-scooters it operates in the coming months as it prepares to roll-out its shared e-scooter service across Ireland, pending e-scooter legislative approval.

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Grow the team

The company, which which was founded in 2019 by Charlie Gleeson and headquartered at Nova UCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, employs 25 and expects to grow the team to 35 by the end of 2021.

"We have experienced great momentum in the last 12 months, showcasing our service to hundreds of thousands of people across the UK and mainland Europe, " Mr Gleeson said.

“We are now excited to grow our European position, following our latest funding round, by continuing to offer sustainable transport alternatives to millions of people across the continent,” he said.