Big plans, fewer doers: e-scooter company Tier loses top managers

Big plans, fewer doers
E-scooter company Tier loses top managers

By Hannah Schwär

With a valuation of more than one billion dollars, Tier Mobility is one of the most valuable startups in this country. The e-scooter company recently struggled. Now that interest in e-scooters is reawakening and a competitor has plans to go public, the brain drain is not helpful.

The Berlin e-scooter startup Tier Mobility could actually be optimistic again. The pandemic shock seems to be over for the time being, the coffers are well filled thanks to a million dollar loan from Goldman Sachs, the company value recently rose to more than one billion US dollars. But now, of all times, when things are going to improve again, the startup is losing two of its most important managers.

According to information from the business magazine “Capital”, Chief Commercial Officer Moritz Werner and Chief Operating Officer Roger Hassan left the company every four weeks in June and July. A spokesman for Tier Mobility confirmed the resignations on request, but did not provide any information about the background. Werner and Hassan did not comment either.

Leadership circle is shrinking

Tier boss Lawrence Leuschner brought the two top managers to his startup a good one and a half years ago to drive international expansion. Former BCG consultant Werner was responsible for customer and sales growth as CCO. According to reports, he leaves Tier to devote himself to his own projects. His manager colleague and COO Hassan was supposed to trim the young startup for efficiency and cut costs. He allegedly withdrew to spend more time with his family. Nevertheless, a previous conflict in management cannot be ruled out.

The leadership circle around Leuschner has thus shrunk from six to four people. The company has not yet publicly communicated a replacement. Apparently the responsibility is to be distributed internally for the time being. According to reports, Andreas Weinberger will take over the duties of the previous COO. The role of the CCO has apparently taken over by Matthias Tempel, if his LinkedIn information is to be believed. He was previously the CEO’s right-hand man.

Industry on the up again

The departures come at an unusual time, because after a weak 2020, the industry is currently on the upswing again. This is shown by estimates by the analysis service Airnow on the number of downloads of the four largest e-scooter apps (see graphic). Estimated downloads in June 2021 were well above the previous year’s level for both Tier and its competitors Voi, Bird and Lime. Interest in electric scooters seems to be rising again. How this is reflected in customer and sales growth, however, is not clear from the figures.

With the beginning of the summer season, competition among providers has flared up again. The US competitor Bird announced an IPO via Spac in May in order to secure new financing for the expansion. Reportedly, it gazes at a valuation of $ 2.3 billion. In Germany, the Estonian start-up Bolt also recently entered the market. With a fleet of 15,000 electric scooters and an aggressive pricing policy, it tries to steal customers from the competition.

Speculation about new funding

In view of the movement in the market, there is speculation in the scene as to whether Tier might be looking for new financing again. The timing would be good now, before the autumn and winter months, which are weak in terms of sales, put pressure on the business figures again, which do not do well in presentations for potential investors.

What speaks against it, however: The Berlin startup only obtained loan financing of 60 million US dollars from Goldman Sachs in June. Tier is currently using the money to advance the international expansion of its fleet. The mobility startup, which was founded in Berlin in 2018 by Lawrence Leuschner, Matthias Laug and Julian Blessin, is currently active in more than 110 cities in 13 countries in Europe and the Middle East. Aside from e-scooters and e-mopeds, it also plans to offer e-bikes in the future.

Strategy is currently being tested

Tier also needs the millions to implement its most important strategic project: In the future, the company wants to encourage its customers to charge the e-scooters themselves. This should radically reduce operating costs. That’s why Tier announced a Europe-wide charging network just over a year ago. The aim is to offer a battery change station every 500 meters in city centers – for example in kiosks, cafés and shops. Customers are supposed to swap the empty batteries for full batteries and get a free ride in return.

After a test phase in Scandinavia, the project started a good two months ago in Germany. The construction of the network is associated with high hardware investments. At its core, the project is a bet on customers and their willingness to take on the effort of changing the battery. A bet on which nothing less than the future of the Berlin start-up depends.

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