Wunder Mobility Acquires GoUrban, Empowers Entrepreneurs and Cities with Next Generation of Shared Mobility Tech Platforms
- Press Announcement-
Hamburg, Germany – [05.09.2024] – Wunder Mobility, the tech platform behind European shared mobility brands such as Forest, the fastest-growing e-bike sharing in London, and Green Mobility, the largest EV car-sharing in the Nordics, has acquired GoUrban, the technology provider behind Joco bike-sharing in New York City and others. Handling a combined 50 million trips per year across 200 cities globally, the acquisition creates a clear market leader in the fragmented mobility technology space.
With the acquisition, Wunder Mobility, the largest independent platform for free-floating micromobility, will expand into pre-booked and station-based models across various vehicle types, covering cars, micromobility, and multimodal systems. With extensive webhooks and APIs, the platform enables shared mobility providers to optimize daily operations, differentiate from competition, and launch new business models in agile and cost-efficient iterations while eliminating upfront tech investment and removing the distraction of continuous upgrades for stability and security.
The move reflects a larger trend in shared mobility: the first generation of venture-backed operators with free-floating micromobility systems is being replaced by regional players and public initiatives prioritizing efficiency and user experience over market share. In collaboration with cities, they are finding profitability by leveraging independent tech platforms like Wunder Mobility.
“Our vision is to make shared mobility the default mode of transportation,” said Gunnar Froh, CEO & Founder of Wunder Mobility. “We will get there by leveraging the passion, creativity, and commitment of local entrepreneurs and cities. Shared mobility will make our cities more livable with safe, clean, and affordable transportation for all by giving people access to the right vehicle at the right moment at a fraction of the cost of ownership through products and business models that are fully localized and deeply integrated into the existing public transportation layer.”
Bojan Jukic, CEO of GoUrban, added, “Joining forces with Wunder Mobility allows us to push the boundaries of what’s possible in mobility technology. With this acquisition, we are assembling the knowledge and resources that enable us to create an independent tech platform that will allow entrepreneurs and cities to outperform the first generation of venture-backed sharing operators.”
The shared mobility industry has been under pressure in the last several years. After an initial hype around shared kick-scooters in 2018/2019, the pandemic has abruptly halted most operators' expansion plans. With investor capital getting more selective and interest rates climbing in 2022, many first-generation operators have reduced their fleet sizes or gone out of business over the last 24 months. Meanwhile, regional players like Green Mobility and others have grown their revenue per vehicle by more than 30% in the last 24 months while constantly lowering the cost of their operations, and many have reached profitability.
McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility estimates the global market for car-sharing and bike-sharing to grow from 10bn EUR today to 100bn EUR in 2030, continuing a trend of +25-35% growth per year in consumer spending recorded over the last three years. The market's future could be dominated by a handful of highly-funded global players or shaped by several thousand local entrepreneurs and public initiatives, making it a critical space to watch as these dynamics unfold.