VAMMO
"Vammo, the São Paulo-based startup that wants to scale electric motorcycle battery swapping in Latin America, has raised a $30 million Series A round to capture the growth in popularity of motorcycles across the region.
The startup, formerly Leoparda Electric, offers an e-motorcycle subscription that comes with unlimited access to battery swapping stations. Vammo says it has already found product market fit and a profitable business model, with customers clocking up 4 million kilometers driven and more than 150,000 battery exchanges in the 10 months since launch."
-Rebecca Bellan, Tech Crunch
UBER & JUMP
"Back in April, Uber snapped up electric bike-sharing startup Jump in a deal reported to be worth $200 million. It signaled Uber’s long-term mission to provide urban transport options for all scenarios, where cars maybe aren’t the best option for getting from A to B. Jump’s dockless electric bikes, though pedal assisted, require charging, which has hitherto involved a team of people collecting the bikes and bringing them back to a depot for charging, which can take up to six hours.
This can be a difficult system to scale, which is why Uber is now rolling out charging stations for Jump bikes. To kick things off, Uber said that it’s starting with a “deep” partnership with Sacramento, where it will offer charging stations across the city at universities, government buildings, and public transit stations."
-Paul Sawers, Venture Beat
SOCIAL BICYCLES
"Last week, Portland, Oregon, launched its first ever bike-share program, and it’s substantially different from the competition. As we’ve previously reported, a Nike sponsorship expanded and accelerated the launch of Biketown, Portland’s new 1,000 bike-strong system.
But what really makes Biketown stand out is that it’s now the largest deployment of so-called “smart-bike” technology in the United States. Each bike has its own GPS tracking system and a U-Lock that serves as the checkout point for riders via a pre-paid card or mobile app. Riders can choose to leave bikes at designated Biketown racks, or pay an additional $2 fee to lock and leave it at any of Portland’s 4,000 bike racks within the service area."
-Andrew Small, Bloomberg
AON3D
"Montreal, QC. – Today, AON3D, a North American manufacturer of industrial 3D printers and software, revealed Hylo™, a new ‘smart’ high temperature 3D printer, and Basis™, an additive manufacturing software equipped with process simulation, machine learning-driven thermal optimization, and part qualification tools. Together, the two solutions simplify and expedite the process of printing open market materials, carbon fiber composites, and high performance polymers: materials with greater specific strength than many metals, continuous use temperatures up to 260°C, extreme chemical resistance, and lots more."
-AON3D Press Release
