Korean micromobility startup Gbike could purchase up the competitors earlier than its 2025 IPO

Whereas micromobility corporations across the globe have been in limbo and hitting snags like bankruptcy, shutdown and layoffs, a Seoul-based shared e-scooters and e-bikes operator known as Gbike is gearing as much as go public on the Korean inventory market and is reviewing acquisition targets. 

In an unique interview with TechCrunch, Walter Yoon, CEO and founding father of Gbike, mentioned the startup is at present in talks for acquisitions within the micromobility trade to extend its market share earlier than its deliberate preliminary public providing, aiming for early 2025. “Details have not been materialized yet, but we’re currently looking at around three to five targets to acquire,” Yoon mentioned, including that it has not determined what number of acquisitions it’ll full. 

Gbike acquired an area micromobility platform known as ZET from Hyundai Motor for an undisclosed amount last year to bolster its technological synergies. 

The startup just lately closed its Sequence C, round $9.1 million, equal to 11.9 billion KRW, within the type of a convertible word, which brings its whole raised to $21 million since its inception in 2017. 

The seven-year-old startup boasted its profitability in stark distinction to its international friends. Gbike posted an EBITDA of $40 million and income of $13.7 million in 2022, Yoon mentioned. The startup expects to generate round $50 million in income, a 25% enhance yr on yr, in 2023, with 30% of EBITDA and 10% of EBIT in 2023. 

“We improved the profitability through deep vertical integration from logistics and operations to manufacturing,” Yoon advised TechCrunch. “Based on this fully integrated capability, we set out our vision to innovate the micromobility ecosystem through battery-[swapping] infrastructure. And this vision resonated with investors.” 

The seven-year-old firm initiated its battery-swapping station venture two years in the past. Final month, the corporate partnered with Zentrophy, a Korean battery-swapping infrastructure operator, to construct its first battery-swapping station in South Korea this yr. It has the ambition to construct 4,000 stations throughout the nation by 2030. After turning into financially sustainable with the swappable battery infrastructure, the corporate will enable different privately owned private mobility producers to undertake Gbike’s battery system for his or her automobiles. 

One of many issues that set Gbike aside from its rivals is its functionality to construct its personal automobiles — e-scooters, e-bikes and batteries, Yoon talked about. On high of that, in contrast to friends that outsource the sphere operators, who choose up automobiles and ship batteries, Gbike’s full-time, built-in operation crew is its different differentiator, which helps the startup streamline the communication channel from discipline operators to IT builders for higher efficiency, Yoon defined. 

Gbike launched its own-developed e-bikes in Might final yr and now operates a fleet of 35,000 e-bikes. It has a fleet of 100,000 electrical scooters and three.4 million customers in South Korea. Final yr, it additionally unveiled its personal battery to suit not simply e-bikes, but in addition e-wheelchairs, e-strollers, e-scooters and e-mopeds. Gbike, which has 160,000 rechargeable batteries, says round 50,000 batteries are getting used each day. 

The startup continues investments in worldwide markets. It launched the electrical mobility service in Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand, in March and October, respectively. Within the first quarter of this yr, Gbike intends to launch its service in Vietnam. Although the startup’s major focus markets are South Korea and Southeast Asia, it’s testing the U.S. market. It launched in Memphis, Tennessee, in July and LA and Guam in December. When requested the way it might get by means of the turbulent micromobility market within the U.S., Yoon mentioned it’s testing and studying the brand new market that’s completely totally different from the markets through which it has been working. 

The corporate operates a fleet of two,000 e-scooters in Thailand and one other fleet of two,000 e-scooters within the U.S. Yoon mentioned this yr’s purpose for Gbike is popping into profit-making in Southeast Asia and the U.S. 

Gbike has 310 workers as of December, up 34.7% from 230 in February final yr.