Tier Mobility, a company specializing in micromobility services, is one of the European leaders in the shared micromobility sector. In just three years they have expanded by 16 countries and have claimed the leading role in 160 cities, between them London, Paris Y berlin, with a proposal that combines private services and integration with public transport companies from its fleet of electric scooters and mopeds. Despite being one of the giants of micromobility, up until now Tier had no presence in Spain.
Tier Mobility attempted an approach to the Spanish market through the city of Barcelona in 2018 in full swing of shared scooter companies. In that period up to 22 operators coincided in a chaos favored by the absence of clear regulations. From Tier they confirm that, seeing that the national market was not mature, they decided to leave the country in 2019. Now, and through the acquisition of the German nextbikeThey want to try again to attack the micromobility sector in Spain. Company sources confirm to El Periódico de Catalunya and Neomotor that now “is a good time because everything is more organized and the market is more consolidated”.
The German firm once again bets on Spain through nextbike, which it recently acquired after closing a financing round of 200 million dollars, 176.44 million euros. This company, based in Leipzig, is present in more than 400 cities more than 250,000 bicycles and electric bicycles, localities among which stand out Bilbao Y The Gran Canarian palms. Manuel Arauco, country manager of Tier Mobility in Spain, confirms to this newspaper that “more cities are coming and will be announced soon”. Arauco explains that they are negotiating with several municipalities to start operating under the Tier brand in the country.
In that sense, Arauco admits that “there is a lot of interest in Spain for micromobility services, which is very positive”. “Cities realize that since they put the citizen at the center of policies. Low emission zone laws are also pushing to implement new solutions. It is a good moment for Tier to try to enter Spain”, he adds. The German company not only targets large cities like Barcelona The Madrid, but also to provincial capitals and smaller towns. “We have seen that there is a lot of demand in small and medium-sized cities,” reiterates Arauco.
add cities
Tier offers its services in different ways. “As a Tier brand we offer an app, but we are also integrated with some public transport platforms through their apps and now we have nextbike, which is a municipal service, with the physical card”, explains the manager. “Tier adapts to the user and to what cities need”, he concludes. That is why the company, before entering a new city, negotiates with the City Council to understand what it needs to achieve its objective, to offer a real alternative to the car. Its strong point is the ability to offer micromobility services, shared motorcycle services and, now, also municipal services through nextbike and hybrid formulas. “We want to understand what is the ideal mix that each city requires. This is achieved by taking into account all the actors, such as public transport. We want to be a solution for cities”, says Arauco.
Also, the company is already deploying what they call the Tier Energy Grid, a patented system of interchangeable batteries located in local businesses. “The objective is to offer, through incentives, the user to exchange batteries, which results in a more efficient operation,” explains the Tier manager. “For users it is beneficial because they receive free trips or discounts in the same stores, while for them it is beneficial because we generate traffic from potential customers in their establishments,” he details. Arauco confirms that they are preparing the arrival of this system also to Spain.
Tier has big plans for 2022 in Spain, with the addition of more cities in which to introduce its service. According to Arauco, the goal is ambitious. “We want to lead in Spain and for this we are already in contact with cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and other important municipalities. “We are very optimistic about what is coming for micromobility in Spain and we hope to be an important player operating in many locations,” he concludes.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.