The free-floating scooter rental company has been acquired by its Spanish competitor Cooltra. This is further evidence of the challenges within the soft mobility sector, far from the paradise that investors had envisioned.
Users of Cityscoot in Paris received a strange message on WhatsApp from its competitor, Cooltra, at precisely 8 am on Friday, February 23. The message stated, “As of today, Cityscoot will offer its service in Paris only through Cooltra.” It was clear that the French scooter rental company had been acquired by its Spanish competitor.
The company was officially taken over on February 22 by the commercial court of Paris, as the company had been in receivership since the end of 2023, impacted by competition from other services, especially electric bicycles. Cooltra’s offer, the only candidate, was “validated by the commercial court of Paris for the takeover of Cityscoot,” as stated in a press release by the Spanish company. The plan includes the takeover of only 30 employees out of the 168 from the company. Cooltra also does not plan to acquire Cityscoot’s scooters, as they are considered outdated. New scooters will be deployed under the brand of both companies in Paris and the surrounding areas, totaling 1,500 two-wheelers – Cityscoot had previously claimed 2,500 scooters and 250,000 active users.
This turn of events is a major letdown for the French startup, which was launched in 2016 and was a pioneer in the sector. It was also twice a member of the “Next 40,” a label created by the French government in 2019 to promote 40 young French companies considered promising and likely to become technological leaders. In 2016, the company raised 15 million euros and then 40 million in 2018, with the ambition of expanding into Italy and Spain. In September 2022, the RATP group had strengthened Cityscoot’s capital, becoming the majority shareholder through its subsidiary RATP Capital Innovation, along with Banque des Territoires.
However, the company was never able to find financial stability and eventually was absorbed by a healthier competitor, as is often the case in hyper-competitive ecosystems. After the disappearance of all non-electric bike-sharing operators in 2018 and the ban on scooters in the capital in 2023, the downfall of the French startup once again proves that the “free-floating” soft mobility sector is not the paradise that investors had imagined it to be.
