Good day,
Mobile carpooling service Scoop has raised $60 million at a $250 million valuation in a round led by Activate Capital, with participation from NGP Capital, BNP Paribas and Total Ventures. The raise brings Scoop’s total funding to $106 million.
Founded in 2015, the company works with the likes of LinkedIn, T-Mobile and more than 50 other corporate clients to help their employees get to and from work. Users download the Scoop app to find other carpoolers who are headed in the same direction. In a release, the company said it is operating in over 2,000 cities in the United States, and is targeting congested “major metros” for further expansion. That market is growing. According to data from the Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey, total commute time continues to rise, with more than 14 million people now spending an hour or more traveling to work.
Other companies targeting the commuter crowd include Zimride, owned by Enterprise, and Carma, which partners with federal and state transportation agencies.
Quotable
“It’s not only a great way to find dollars we can invest back into the business, it’s also more environmentally friendly.”
– Uber CFO Nelson Chai, explaining why Uber, which lost over $1 billion in the second quarter of 2019, will stop honoring staff’s work anniversaries with giant helium balloons. (Crunchbase)
Did you know?
Rail traffic slumped in the U.S. and Mexico but rose in Canada when comparing volumes to the same period in 2018. Overall North American rail traffic fell 2.3 percent year-to-date to 22.6 million carloads and intermodal units. Of that total, carloads fell 2 percent to nearly 11.4 million carloads, while intermodal units fell 2.6 percent to 11.3 million intermodal containers and trailers.
(The Association of American Railroads, via FreightWaves)
In other news
Amazon opens brick and mortar “4-star store” at Seattle headquarters
The name is a nod to the ratings associated with the e-giant’s online shopping site. (Seattle Times)
New partnership to supply sustainable aviation fuel in France
Biofuels company Gevo will supply fuel provider Air Total with the grain-based aviation fuel from its facility in Silsbee, Texas, and later from the company’s expanded plant in Luverne, Minnesota. (Biofuelsnews)
Postmates to test robot deliveries in San Francisco
The permit allows the company to test three vehicles at a time in select neighborhoods. (SanFranciscoChronicle)
Nevada completes state’s largest public works project
Project Neon cost $1 billion and took three years to complete. It improves approximately four miles of Interstate 15 leading into downtown Las Vegas. (TransportationToday)
Final thoughts,
How green is your scooter? Shared e-scooters may be more environmentally friendly than most cars, but they can be less green than taking the bus or biking. That’s due in part to the materials and manufacturing impacts, a study from North Carolina State University shows. Another factor is the collector vehicles that drive around town redistributing the scooters. The same study shows around 50 percent of all scooter riders would have walked or biked if they hadn’t used an e-scooter. “Claims of environmental benefits from their use should be met with skepticism,” the authors write.
Hammer down, everyone!