- 27
- May
2013
Mobility 2.0 – E-volo, Carzapp, Flinc and Innovative Mobility discuss how to build profitable startups
Ecosummit TV: First the bad news: after burning $850M in 6 years Better Place files for bankruptcy. That’s not what you call a lean startup. The electric mobility operator had to accept that car makers don’t support a global startup standard for switchable batteries. Now the good news: peer-to-peer ride sharing startup Lyft raises $60M for global expansion from Andreessen Horowitz. To fight off the professional taxi and limo driver lobby, Lyft drivers get donations rather than payments from their riders. But VCs love transactions whatever they are called, especially if they smell like Airbnb on the road. Here in Europe, we eat humble pie. At ECO12 Düsseldorf, Fabienne Herlaut (Ecomobilité Ventures) discusses profitability with Alexander Zosel (E-volo), Oliver Lünstedt (Carzapp), Klaus Dibbern (Flinc) and Thomas delos Santos (Innovative Mobility). Some inspiration from the US may help.
Read more- 16
- February
2013
Thomas delos Santos pitches the electric microcar Colibri
Ecosummit TV: Not many people have the guts to found an electric vehicle startup these days. Thomas delos Santos, CEO of Innovative Mobility, is one of them. His pitch at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012 provides the full story behind the electric microcar called Colibri. The Colibri will be unveiled at the auto show in Geneva in March 2013. The light electric vehicle (LEV) for city dwellers will cost €8.9K plus monthly battery leasing costs of €55. Colibri shall hit the market in 2015 and can be pre-ordered in 2014 – provided that Thomas manages to raise the rather large funds needed for series development and production. We cross our fingers as we want to see the smart green Colibri on the street.
Read more- 5
- November
2012
Smarter, greener, leaner – startups accelerate the Energiewende at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012
9 days to go until ECO12 Düsseldorf. The perfect moment to do some serious pattern recognition and talk about the cleantech startups to be featured on stage – and Ecosummit TV. Our second conference this year enjoys again a very high startup density: 26 startups present new solutions for accelerating the Energiewende (energy transformation). The Internet of things and cleantech grow together. More and more green startups develop smart hardware products that have an IP address. The startups pitching at Ecosummit control cars, helicopters, charging stations, PV systems, wind generators, batteries, street lights, homes and even entire cities over the Internet. Smarter, greener, leaner – that’s the way we want them.
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