Movements | June 12th, 2020

eBike ads hit mainstream TV, Snap Maps, and the top US cities for micromobility.

Jun 12, 2020

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Micromobility

BikeFair is building a marketplace for used bikes with the goal of eliminating stolen bikes and scams. | BikeFair
Ebikes are hitting mainstream media: VanMoof released a new eBike ad that is hitting TV networks across Europe. “The alternative to gridlocked freeways and overflowing subways. Time to ride the future.“ | VanMoof
A Chinese facial detection company is rolling out a new computer vision product to detect and alert city managers of improperly parked shared bikes in Shanghai. | SCMP

Product Launches & Updates

Instacart tweaked its tipping system after customers were baiting shoppers with large tips and canceling them after delivery. | The Verge
Google Maps rolls out COVID-19 features, including transit crowdedness detection and driving alerts. ‘Starting today, you can easily see the times when a transit station is historically more or less busy to plan your trip accordingly or you can look at live data showing how busy it is right now compared to its usual level of activity.” | Google
You can now book and pay for a Bird scooter in a 3rd party app. Bird completed its first native integration into Belgian mobility app Skipr. | Skipr
Ford backed scooter startup Spin has launched in Germany. | TechCrunch
Snapchat’s ‘Snap Maps’ is getting new features to compete with Google Maps. Will we someday see Snapchat offer mobility features that can tie together its powerful social graph and camera-first platform? “There are now 200 million people using Snap Map every month. And the company is about to overhaul it with a lot more information. The company is in the process of adding millions of listings for businesses around the world.” | TechCrunch

Ridehailing, Carsharing, & Delivery

Instacart has increased focus on acquiring smaller grocery store partners, who are less likely to have the bandwidth to build their own delivery offering. | ModernRetailer
As negotiations with Uber fell through, Grubhub agreed to combine with Just Eat Takeaway.com. | WSJ ($)

Investment & Deals

Instacart raises $225 million at $13.7 billion valuation. The company ‘claims it is accessible to 85% of households in the United States and more than 70% of households in Canada.’ | TechCrunch
DoorDash is raising new capital at a $15 billion valuation. | MarketWatch
Micromobility location technology startup Navmatic raises $4 million. “Navmatic combines GPS with a host of additional inputs to improve location accuracy to within centimeters” | WebWire
German micromobility startup Tier raises adds an extra $23 million to their previously disclosed Series B round. “The round was raised as part of an extension to the company's previous $60 million Series B, which was subsequently increased by $40 million.” | Business Insider ($)

Cities & Policy

Which US cities are best for bikes? Places for Bikes rolled out its 2020 US city ratings. The rankings score on 5 key factors: Ridership, Safety, Network, Acceleration and Reach. | People for Bikes
Full rollout of Apple Pay support for NYC subways is delayed until December. | MacRumors
Two takes on how police forces handle road safety and if they even should at all: Marginal Revolution and Vice
The 14th St busway in NYC is now permanent! And a few new stretches will be added throughout the city in the coming months. | Streetsblog

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