BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zoba, the world leader in fleet optimization solutions for micromobility, urban mobility, and delivery providers, today announced it has closed a $12M Series A round of funding led by NTTVC, with significant participation from existing investor CRV. These funds will be used to build the company’s go-to-market efforts (including sales, marketing, and customer success) in both the US and Europe while also significantly expanding its engineering and data science capabilities in the US. NTTVC partner Fay Hazaveh Costa is joining Zoba’s Board of Directors.
The market for urban mobility services, such as e-bikes, e-scooters, autonomous vehicles, and even delivery services, is growing quickly and is slated to be a $200B global market by 2027. However, the rapid scaling of urban mobility operators has masked significant inefficiencies in their operating model related to demand forecasting and optimization. In this highly competitive market, Zoba’s AI-based fleet optimization solution provides operators with the ability to predict demand and optimize fleet performance, giving them a significant competitive edge.
“Micromobility services are transforming urban landscapes around the world, but many providers’ fleet management strategies are based on intuition and ‘best guesses,’” said Daniel Brennan, co-founder of Zoba. “Our unique solution uses decision-automation to predict true demand. That means we provide our customers with the insights to understand where demand for a micromobility fleet will be and not where they’ve been. The result is increased ridership, lower operational costs, and higher revenue.”
Already deployed with multiple industry leaders in more than 150 metro areas across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, Zoba delivers a market-leading solution that has been proven to deliver outstanding results.
“Zoba is truly unique in this market, in that they’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the industry’s problems, then building a new solution from the ground up to address fleet optimization,” said Brandon Mah, SVP of Operations at Spin. “Instead of relying on historical trends to determine demand, Zoba gives the ability to predict where our customers will need our services beforehand. That truly enables us to increase our revenues while reducing operational costs.”
“Micromobility is an impactful asset in the fight against climate change as consumers embrace convenient ways to reduce their carbon footprint and bring joy back into their commute,” said Fay Hazaveh Costa, Zoba board member and partner at NTTVC. “Zoba is a critical partner for micromobility providers and communities to empower more citizens to take advantage of micro transportation. We’re excited to partner with the Zoba founding team to accelerate their important mission.”
The key benefits Zoba delivers to micromobility providers and adjacent markets include:
- Increase ridership by 20% to 50% - Zoba positions your fleet to best capture demand. Teams execute Zoba’s recommended tasks, so vehicles receive more rides and stay in service for longer.
- Improve labor productivity by 20% - Zoba manages your deployments, rebalances, and battery swaps with an efficient, easy-to-follow task list.
- Win more permits by being a better partner - Zoba keeps vehicles in circulation, manages zone constraints, and decreases sidewalk clutter. Earn the trust of city officials and win new markets.
“Our API-centric architecture means that we easily integrate with mobility providers’ existing infrastructure,” said Joseph Brennan, co-founder of Zoba. “That architecture also means our core technology is extensible to adjacent markets including delivery, autonomous vehicles, fast delivery, and similar segments.”
About Zoba
Zoba is currently the world leader in fleet optimization solutions for micromobility providers. The company’s API-first platform powers fleet rebalancing, driver tasking and routing, and dynamic pricing for the world’s top mobility operators in over 150 cities around the globe. By using Zoba, mobility operators dramatically increase revenue while taking the guesswork out of operations. Zoba was founded out of Harvard and MIT and is backed by leading investors, including NTTVC, CRV, Founder Collective, and Mark Cuban. For more information about Zoba, please visit www.zoba.com or reach out to us directly at https://www.zoba.com/contact.
About NTTVC
Launched in 2019, NTTVC is an independent venture capital firm formed in collaboration with NTT. Leveraging a unique partnership-focused model and deep industry network, NTTVC unlocks doors to relationships that can help startups reach global scale. With its $500M inaugural fund, the firm invests broadly in technology startups of all stages and sectors, with an emphasis on the future of enterprise, digital health, and innovations powered by AI, machine learning, and data. NTTVC is headquartered in Silicon Valley. Learn more at nttvc.com.
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Media Contact:
Nichols Communications for Zoba
Jay Nichols
jay@nicholscomm.com
+1 408-772-1551
