Micromobility company Tier has raised $60m in asset-backed financing from Goldman Sachs, the firm said Wednesday, making it Europe’s best-funded scooter company.
The money is Tier’s first debt facility and follows its $250m Series C raise in November last year from Softbank that gained it unicorn status.
The investment also comes shortly after the company secured the London scooter tender. Tier says it’ll use the debt facility to expand internationally including to Slovakia and Ireland, pending legislative changes.
The new funding means Tier, headquartered in Berlin and founded in 2018, has now raised $490m in debt and equity — the highest figure out of the European scooter competitors (Voi has raised $325m and Dott $145m).
In May, Tier secured the London scooter tender, alongside US company Lime and fellow European company Dott. A month earlier, in April, the company expanded its footprint into central and eastern Europe by acquiring Makery, a Hungarian software development firm.
The company currently operates in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the UAE.
The new debt financing will also go into expanding the existing fleet of vehicles which also includes bicycles and mopeds. The company also plans to expand its charging network through installing stations in retail stores across Europe and the Middle East.
"The size of this highly scalable asset-backed debt facility is a gamechanging first in micromobility, accelerating our expansion and cementing our market leadership in Europe. This facility leverages our recent equity raise and will enhance our capital-efficient growth,” says Alex Gayer, Tier’s CFO.
The investment marks Goldman Sachs’ first investment into micromobility.
