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The Shared Scooter Startup VOI informs its first profitable year while exploring an opi

Sweden Shared Micromobilility Giant Voi He had his first profitable year in 2024, according to non -audited preliminary results that the company shared exclusively with TechCrunch.

VOI, offered Interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization gains, and around € 100,000 ($ 104,000) in adjusted profits before interest and taxes (EBIT).

Although the profits of € 100,000 (in a tight way) it does not seem much to continue, the founder and CEO of Voi, Frederik Hjelm “industry lasts with many ups and downs”.

Lima, another industry leader, reported full year profitability in 2023.

“Now we are beginning to show finances and profitability of positive EBIT in real cash, so we are reaching a place where we would be a good candidate for public markets in, for example, in two or three years,” said Hjelm. .

Hjelm also pointed out that a business that revolves around physical assets should highlight the profitability of the EBIT on EBITDA because it is a metric that best captures the operating cost structure.

VOI did not share other financial information such as net income and operating expenses. HJELM said the company would publish that information with a more detailed audited report at the end of February.

Hjelm noticed that the profit margins of the VOI vehicle, which grew to 57%, compared to 49% in 2023, can be considered a “proxy” for the gross margin of the company.

The CEO attributes the improved final result of VOI to a series of cost reduction measures and efficiency improvements, such as automation on the product side, and the use of automatic learning models to feed predictive maintenance or determine the programs of Exchange of batteries. He said that this has also helped VOI improve the useful life of his current fleet to about eight years, which has been a “great engine of profitability improvements.”

“A thousand small things that extend to one thing, which is really an approach to discipline and obsession with small details,” Hjelm said.

The use of the vehicle is also healthy, he said, with each vehicle averaging up to 10 trips per day during the peak months and two trips per day in the peak.

“The first years [of shared micromobility] They were quite chaotic when it came to how many players were on the market, precision of location in vehicles, parking disorder, etc. ”Hjelm said. “In the last three years, we have seen cities that mature and take what the most appropriate players consider to execute micromobilility schemes in their cities. And that has improved both public acceptance and profitability in the final result for us. ”

VOI finished 2024 with € 60 million ($ 62 million) in cash and cash equivalents. In October 2024, VOI obtained € 125 million in senior guaranteed bonds ($ 130 million) that are mainly supported by Nordic and American institutional investors, a step change for the startup that until then increase $ 675.56 million in VCS capital, according to Pitchbook data.

“My CFO and I said at the end of 2021 that we no longer want to depend on capital investors, so let’s change this profitable company,” Hjelm said.

VOI completed its first reduction of € 50 million ($ 52 million) from the bond issuance, money that will be used to help Voi expand its fleet and launch in new markets throughout Europe. Today, VOI has about 100,000 vehicles in its fleet, 90% of which are scooters.

“This year, we are increasing our bicycle fleet significantly for the next few months,” said Hjelm.

“Raising a public bonus is a very sophisticated public debt bond proof,” he added.

When asked if Voi plans to use any of its troops to acquire other companies, there have been Rumors that VOI is acquiring the Bolt Micromobilility Business – Hjelm said there is no confirmed acquisition offer.

“But I would buy it at the right price,” he said. “Bolt is great, but we do better micromobility!”

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