Portuguese Indico invests in German company of shared electric scooters

There has been a recent surge in the popularity of electric scooters as a form of smart mobility in urban areas. For the first time, the Portuguese venture capital fund “Indico” announced its investment – €3.25 million - in TIER, a German electric scooter sharing company. Indico joins a range of investors including Northzone venture capital, Whitestar, Point Nine, Speedinvest, Kibo Ventures and even 2016 Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg. The company has raised more than €30 million by this stage.

TIER is now firmly established as Europe's leading micro-mobility player with a presence in 24 cities, growing 20% weekly and already profitable in its main markets in northern Europe. TIER recently completed two million trips, becoming the fastest European electric scooter company to achieve this target. The company already has more than 10,000 scooters in its fleet.

TIER has just announced a new model of scooter, prepared to last a year - instead of the usual six months - with bigger tyres, reinforced suspension and range of up to 40 kilometres. To increase the durability of these vehicles, Tier also has its own maintenance team, together with partners in each of the 24 cities in which it is present in Europe. The brakes have also been reinforced and are mechanically and electrically operated.