Over the past few years, early stage micromobility has changed. The antics of cowboys in e-scoaters companies that cause chaos for scaling have faded along with the fat venture checks that are currently circulating in AI startups.
Closer capital combined with existential needs to create sustainable business models has created new crops for micromobility startups.
This week I attended Micromobility Europe in Brussels. There, we toured the so-called “startup arena” of conferences to get a sense of what the early stages of Europe’s micromobility ecosystem was bringing to the table. Many of the companies I spoke to are trying to fill the gaps in the industry, including fleet management software, parking and charging. But some just make the car they want to drive.
They all represent the next stage in the ever-evolving micromobility industry.
Convoy
Electronic cargo bikes are often sold to make life easier for parents, but most are heavy, bulky and expensive. Founded in 2023, the UK-based convoy is trying to outweigh those obstacles with clip-on cargo conversion kits for bicycles and e-bikes that can carry two small children.
The team behind Convoy comes from a diverse background ranging from women’s health tech and e-bikes to former CEO of Dyson.
“We’ve been working together for 10 years to build our first hands-free wearable breast pump,” Tatiana Escobar-Peke, the fleet’s chief income officer, told TechCrunch. “For 10 years, we’ve been hooked on why life for new parents must be so miserable.”
The convoy attachments are easily fastened to the rear wheels of existing bikes, and are easy to store, weighing only about 26 pounds. It offers a 250 watt motor that turns a pedal bike into an electronic bike and a rear wheel steering that holds the bike’s turning circle.
The convoy will be launching pre-orders for the trailer for €2,200 ($2,500) next week. The startup has secured sufficient demand from European distributors this year and raised modest funding to begin thinking about expanding to Japan and the US this year.
Azora fee
Founded a year and a half ago by brother and sister duo Caroline and Johannes Goekkel, Germany-based Azora Charge builds solar charging and parking for e-bikes. Azora Charge is not directly trying to meet the needs of shared micromobility operators as much as it serves ordinary people who own E-bikes that can safely charge and park.
“There’s no solution like this,” Caroline Goekkel told TechCrunch. “In London, for example, there’s no way to know that your bike is safe by parking it somewhere. It’s stolen.”
Azora’s flagship product, Azora Arc, is a covered charging station that fits in one parking space. It features five integrated solar panels and four charging stations that can accommodate up to eight bikes, allowing you to adapt to advertising. It is designed to be a plug-and-play solution suitable for a variety of locations, such as parking lots and streets.
Azora wants to sell these stations at a retail price of 28,000 euros ($32,000). That means cities, apartments, shopping centres and other businesses want to sell 15,999 euros ($18,400) of Azora Flow, which has no cover. They want to raise 250,000 euros through venture capital and friends and family, highlighting the need for B2B distribution expertise. The pilot program is scheduled to begin in Heidelberg, Germany, to test the viability of the first prototype.
Fleetser
Fleetser will buy, sell and renovate shared electric bikes and scooters in the European-based micromobility market. Founded in late 2024, the company is aimed at both new and established operators, providing supply chain, software management and battery help.
Fleetser’s client base includes sellers looking to offload hardware and new operators looking for cost-effective entries into the market.
“We’re a good market to help people who want to start, or even big operators who want to expand at an affordable price,” Alexe Stefan, managing partner at Fleetser, told TechCrunch.
The company operates remotely in warehouses in Romania and the Netherlands. This year we have sold 6,000 bikes, expanding organically through market demand and word of mouth. Fleetter also provides logistical support for bike travel and delivery, and was seen chatting with the founder of Detroit-based Bloom at the event.
switch
Italian startup switch brings AI and simulation to fleet planning and fleet management for cities and shared mobility operators. The startup offers two core products. Urbiverse generates synthetic logistics and mobility data and simulations, while urban Copilot offers real-time demand forecasting, fleet rebalancing, and operational optimization.
Then there is an AI agent that “accesses all stakeholder tools” from Slack to the CRM app, allowing users to ask “section questions.”
“So you can ask it like you. Send a Slack notification whenever the fleet’s average battery level falls below 40% in this neighborhood.
Founded in 2020, the company raised nearly $1 million, including the European Institute of Technology.
Zap
Zapp, a super app for Bosnia and Herzegovina, offers food delivery, shared micromobility, package delivery, car rentals and taxi services. Zapp launched in 2020 and expanded to 10 Bosnian cities – Uber still has no major presence – is set to enter Croatia this year.
The difference between Zapp is that it runs a franchise model, an idea from CEO Martin Mikolic, former CEO of Gaming Cafe Franchise Franchase Fire.
“There’s not much competition in the Vulcans [from established players like Uber]And because the focus of our franchise is to empower locals because locals know best what their customers need in the city.
J2R
Jean Madaule was a business analyst in the video game industry who wanted to buy an electric bike, but found nothing in the market that met his needs for traceability, reparability and cool design.
A self-taught engineer, he began building motorcycles in his garage until he came up with the flagship model for the J2R. Founded in 2022, the J2R was named the first electric motorcycle Smol. The Smol has a sharp, radical design with futuristic dirt bike styling with minimalist charm, enhanced by features such as exposed suspension.
“It’s a toy, but for the city,” Madaure said. “Basically, for people who are really urban and involved in street culture. That’s why I think rare marketing is the reason why they work for them. They feel it’s a drop in something very exclusive.”
The team launched a pre-sale campaign in September with a price tag of 9,450 euros ($10,800). They plan to offer 15 numbered units and 100 units by the end of the year in January 2026. SMOL is assembled in France with parts sourced primarily from the EU.
Trace Mobility
As the former founder of German bicycle sharing speed mobility, Tobias Meurer understands the problems with the shared micromobility business. In April 2023, he returned with his new startup, Trace Mobility. It provides business intelligence services to bike and car sharing operators.
Trace Mobility offers subscription-based software services that track key metrics such as user registration, bookings, vehicle usage, and revenue. It also integrates published data and provides AI agents for customized insights and operational proposals.
The company’s target clients are small operators who don’t have their own booking platform and rely on white label solutions, drawing data to come up with unique insights for their clients.
“Profitability is a big problem for everyone in your business, and to improve profitability or reach profitability first, it’s important to know how these relate to the mechanisms behind the costs and revenue structure,” says Meurer.
