bp ventures Invests US$6 Million in Free Electric
Ride-Hailing Business
(21/10/22)
bp ventures has invested $6 million in
all-electric ride-hailing business Freebee, a Miami-based company
that provides free, on-demand transport to local communities
through the Ride Freebee mobile app.
bp led the business’s $8
million Series A funding round, with support from Freebee’s
current infrastructure capital partner, Tensile Mobility.
Freebee’s free-to-the-user trips are financed
through local government as part of municipalities’ public
transport networks, and also by private entities such as corporate
business parks, hotels and resorts, and university campuses.
Freebee has already established itself as a premier mobility platform in
the state of Florida and is working to address the many issues arising
from increased use of personal vehicles in the US, like traffic
congestion and increased carbon emissions.
Freebee owns a fleet of more than 150 electric
vehicles and employs more than 230 drivers on a full-time basis.
Kris Kimball, co-founder and managing partner at
Freebee, said, “Living in Miami as a student, my co-founder Jason
Spiegel and I felt there must be a more economical way of getting
around the city. With Freebee we have turned ride-hailing on its
head, providing a service that is accelerating the decarbonization
of mobility and is free to users. This investment from bp ventures
is an endorsement of our idea and together we will roll Freebee
out across the US.”
This investment will help Freebee boost its technology development
capacity and expand the team, helping to scale the business across
the US.
The innovative service is currently available in more than 25
municipalities and campuses in Florida and Virginia, with Freebee
targeting expansion into seven new cities in the two states before
the end of 2022.
The expansion is expected to help the business
move over 1 million passengers by the end of the year.
Shaun Healey, principal at bp ventures, said, “bp
ventures invests in companies that align with bp’s ambition to be
net zero by 2050 or sooner. The team at Freebee has come up with a
brilliant business idea that incentivizes travel by electric
vehicles without any cost to the user. We are very proud to have
made our first investment in Miami’s thriving tech sector and look
forward to getting started with the team.”
As well as leading the funding round, bp will also
work with Freebee on scaling the business across the US and will
explore opportunities to collaborate on the roll-out of EV
charging infrastructure, progressing bp’s mobility growth engine.
Shaun Healey will join
the Freebee board, along with Dabo Horsfall, CEO of Tensile
Mobility.
Subscribe to our
Travel Industry News RSS
Feed. To do
that in Outlook, right-click the RSS Feeds
folder, select Add a New RSS Feed, enter the URL of our
RSS Feed which is: https://www.travelnewsasia.com/travelnews.xml
and click Add. The feed can also be used to add the headlines to your
website or channel via a
customisable applet. Have questions? Please read our
Travel News
FAQ. Thank you.