Europcar Acquires Belgian Scooter-Sharing Startup

Europcar Group acquired Poleis Consulting, which includes the brand Scooty, a free floating electric scooter-sharing startup through Ubeeqo.

This new acquisition marks another step in Europcar Group’s ambition to become a global mobility solutions leader by offering new mobility services that fits customer needs and expectations.

Scooter-sharing and carsharing markets are growing quickly. Europcar wants to further its presence in these markets, as it is a great alternative to car or other vehicle ownership, the company said in a press release. Furthermore, according to a recent study by Europcar Lab, 72% of the interviewees, regular users of a car-sharing solution, intend to use a free floating scooter if it’s available.

Scooty is a Belgium based start-up, created in 2016 by Jan-Albrecht Jost, Bram Vandeperre, and Michiel Van Roey and offers to customers 176 electric scooters in Brussels and Antwerp. The customer can, in a designated area of the city, locate, book, start, and stop the scooter through a mobile app.

There are no specific parking locations, scooters can be parked within the designated area respecting the city rules.

After a collaboration with a pilot since April 2017 between Scooty, Ubeeqo, and Europcar Lab, Ubeeqo (through its Belgian subsidiary) decided to acquire Scooty in order to add to its mobility portfolio an electric urban solution and to further develop synergies with Ubeeqo car-sharing services.

Scooty will be operated as a separate brand of the Europcar Group.