Japanese e-scooter startup Luup raises $34m Series D

Tokyo-based electric vehicle provider Luup has secured $34 million (4.5 billion yen) in a Series D fundraising round from a group of new and existing investors. The round consists of 3.8 billion yen in equity and 700 million yen in debt, the company said in a statement.

The new funding brings Luup’s total capital raised so far to around 9.1 billion yen.

Spiral Capital was the lead investor in the equity issuance.

In addition to SMBC Venture Capital, ANRI, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, which are its existing backers, new investors who joined the round include 31VENTURES Global Innovation Fund 2; GMO Internet Group; i-nest capital; SMBC Nikko Securities; Green Coinvest; Chishima Real Estate; Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, among others.

Established in 2018, Luup offers shared e-scooter and e-bike services with the aim to create a short-distance mobility infrastructure across major cities, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Utsunomiya, and Kobe.

The fresh funding will be spent on adding more stations and improving its scooters and apps, according to the statement. The startup will also place more focus on enhancing safety measures and increasing awareness for Japan’s new traffic rules.

“The number of stations has already exceeded 3,000 in the two years since the introduction of e-scooters, and we plan to expand our service area into multiple urban cities. Just as railroad companies once developed cities along their lines, we aim to contribute to the value of the surrounding properties by creating Luup stations on properties far from the train station,” said Daiki Okai, CEO of Luup.

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