TIER MOBILITY

Lawrence Leuschner saw what was happening with Bird and Lime in the US — electric scooters dropped on sidewalks, cities furious, companies burning cash. He thought Europe needed a different approach.

In 2018, he founded Tier in Berlin with Matthias Laug and Julian Blessin. Their thesis: micromobility would work in Europe, but only if you cooperated with cities instead of launching guerrilla-style like Bird.

Tier applied for permits before deploying, partnered with public transit systems, and focused on unit economics from day one.

Rental micromobility. Users rent e-scooters (and e-bikes) by the minute through the Tier app.

Revenue comes from per-minute rental fees. Tier also earns from advertising partnerships and government contracts for mobility data.

The company has expanded into e-bikes and e-mopeds. Sustainability is a core brand value — they use swappable batteries, recyclable scooters, and carbon-offset programs.

E-Scooter Rental — per-minute e-scooter rental in 260+ cities. E-Bike Rental — pedal-assist electric bikes.

E-Moped Rental — seated electric mopeds in select cities. Tier Energy Network — battery swapping infrastructure.

City cooperation over city invasion. While Bird and Lime dropped scooters without permission (and got banned), Tier applied for licenses, worked with transit agencies, and positioned itself as a partner, not a nuisance.

This gave Tier access to cities that banned competitors. The "responsible operator" brand won European government contracts.

Micromobility margins are thin. Scooters get vandalized, stolen, and broken.

Weather dependency is real — usage drops in winter. Competition from Lime (which survived), Bolt, and Voi keeps pricing low.

The entire micromobility sector has struggled to prove it can be consistently profitable at scale.

SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Mubadala, Goodwater Capital, and Northzone invested. The $200M Series D in 2021 reflected peak micromobility optimism.

Tier has also acquired competitors (Spin from Ford, Nextbike) to consolidate market share.