Starting this quarter, Londoners and visitors can find, book and pay for Forest’s all-electric bike fleet directly through the umob app – marking another major step toward truly integrated and sustainable mobility in and outside of Europe. A milestone in making multimodal, zero-emission travel effortless in one of the world’s most dynamic transport markets. 

The partnership with Forest underscores umob’s commitment to building smarter, cleaner and more people-centric cities. London is one of the most advanced and diverse mobility markets – home to world-class public transport and a rapidly growing ecosystem of shared e-bikes, e-scooters, and car services. With millions of journeys taken daily across multiple operators, fragmentation remains one of the biggest barriers to seamless travel. 

The partnership delivers real-time visibility and booking of Forest vehicles inside the umob app, allowing users to locate, unlock, and ride instantly. Forest’s distinctive green bikes will also feature umob branding across London, symbolising the growing collaboration between mobility operators and MaaS platforms. 

Bibi Jorissen, CEO of umob, said: “London is a global leader in urban mobility innovation, and its citizens are already embracing shared and sustainable transport. Expanding to this city – in partnership with Forest – is a major step forward for our mission to unify mobility across the world. In London shared mobility, public transport and taxis perfectly come together and the collaboration demonstrates the power of MaaS in action: a unified experience for users, stronger visibility for operators, and a shared commitment to reducing emissions and congestion.”

Jamie Richards, VP of Sales at Forest, said: “We’re thrilled to be expanding our partnership with uMOB through our Forest Connect API, making Forest bikes accessible to even more Londoners. umob will also be showcasing their brand on our bikes,  a format that’s delivering exceptional results for our partners. Forest bikes double as a powerful, highly visible Out of Home platform, driving sustainable brand awareness across the capital every day. Through Forest Ads, we connect our partners with 1.5 million app users and the 9 million people moving through London’s streets. We’re excited to see uMOB-branded Forest bikes in action, offering new riders their first journey for free, a fantastic example of our shared commitment to making sustainable travel more accessible for everyone.”

ABOUT UMOB:

umob is Europe’s leading mobility platform, connecting all public transport, shared mobility, taxis, and other operators in one app. With umob, users can discover, book, and pay for every trip in a single place – creating a seamless worldwide travel experience that supports sustainable urban living. Learn more at www.umob.app 

ABOUT FOREST:

Forest is London’s affordable and environmentally sustainable micromobility platform. Forest was founded by Agustin Guilisasti (ex-Cabify) alongside co-founders Caroline Seton and Michael Stewart. The Company already completes more than 1.2 million rides per month. Its operations are ‘zero emission’, since every bike in its fleet, as well as all service vehicles, are certified to be powered only by renewable energy. Forest is one of the world’s first micro-mobility companies to have B Corp accreditation and the only micro-mobility company to have achieved Verra validation.

Contact details

Umob:

[email protected]

Forest:

[email protected]

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umob is excited to announce their partnership with the global leader in electric scooters
and bikes, Lime, to make its fleet available on the umob app in the Netherlands. This new
integration will allow umob users in the Netherlands to adopt a more flexible approach to
daily transport and to choose from different transport options when travelling for work or
leisure.

The launch enhances umob’s mission to make urban mobility smarter, greener and more
convenient. It allows users to easily access and rent Lime’s fleet of electric bikes directly
through the umob app, meeting the growing demand for convenient, sustainable, and
cost-effective transportation solutions. A unique offer in the MaaS landscape where no
other app is required to get access to the services.

“We are thrilled to join forces with Lime to offer our users a wider range of mobility
options”, said Bibi Jorissen, CEO of umob. “As cities continue to evolve, shared mobility
has become an essential component of urban life, and this partnership allows us to
meet the needs of our customers while reducing traffic congestion and promoting
sustainability. The launch in our home-town makes it extra special, also with the
support of the European Union to foster adoption of usage”.

The integration also plays a role within the recently launched pilot where citizens of
Rotterdam are welcomed to try out the services subsidized by the European Union.
Together parties make sure shared mobility is accessible for every area near Rotterdam.
“We’re happy to see the direct impact we make and to see direct usage of services in the
areas we launched”, said Bibi Jorissen.

“Lime is thrilled to help Rotterdam move smarter by seamlessly integrating with the MaaS
platform’s umob. Nowadays, 63% of our users in Rotterdam say that Lime helps them
access public transit options. Being able for locals and visitors to plan their trip fully with
just one app and including Lime will continue to integrate our e-bikes as part of the
transportation network in the city. Whether it’s the first mile, last mile, or anything in
between, with this integration, getting around Rotterdam has never been easier!” says
Sofie Staelraeve, Public Affairs Manager for Lime in Rotterdam.

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The mobility industry is undergoing a revolution. From scooters to bikes to trains, taxi’s and car sharing, the choice is immense. As our cities continue to grow, they inevitably face new challenges, such as increasing pressure on space, traffic flow and road safety. In order to conquer these challenges, we need to redefine our mobility needs and create one seamless eco-system for worldwide usage. Our collective aim is clear, sustainable, accessible and liveable cities for everyone. 

As of this month, umob is launching international payment methods in their app, powered by Adyen. Adyen is the global technology platform of choice for leading businesses. With the umob app, customers can directly search, plan, book and pay for all shared mopeds, bikes, scooters, taxis and public transport available in Europe. Think about Bolt, Lime, Dott, Check, Go Sharing, Donkey Republic and many more. Connecting all these vehicles into one booking system creates overview, ease of use and trustworthy dense network. No different apps and accounts needed anymore, but one booking solution for all of them. From Amsterdam to Paris, and from Paris to Barcelona.

Together with Adyen, umob is able to offer their customers worldwide safe and efficient in-app payment solutions. This means a user never leaves the umob app for booking mobility services, all over the world. Providing a consistent journey is needed to encourage users to move from ownership to pay per use and to create uninterrupted travel experiences. 

Bibi Jorissen, CEO at umob, said: “We are delighted to partner with Adyen to improve our services to our national and international customers. With Adyen we have found a trustworthy and industry leading partner to provide worldwide payment methods to encourage using sustainable mobility options. Our mission is to be the leading all-in-one mobility platform across Europe, starting with our home market in the Netherlands. The mission of both Adyen and umob strengthens each other due to their international focus and data-driven business.” 

“The mobility industry is rapidly evolving, and consumer expectations are higher than ever,” says Julien Marlier, Country Manager Benelux at Adyen. “We’re proud to partner with umob to make mobility more accessible and seamless. With our global payment solutions, umob can offer a smooth and efficient service, meeting the needs of today’s users and promoting sustainable urban travel.”

About umob:

Founded in 2021 and launched at the end of 2023, umob is an international booking platform providing direct access to over 500.000 vehicles end of year in Europe. The mobility industry is undergoing a revolution, characterized by digitalization and easy access. However, with all the digital booking systems coming up, users end up having over 30 different apps on their phone to use all these shared mobility options, to book taxis and to buy public transport tickets. To enhance easy access and encourage use, this needs to be done differently. From now on you can find all scooters, bikes, cargo-bikes, taxis and public transport options within one single platform, with only one account. No more switching, simple and effective – to give the streets back to our people, not to cars. 

We stand for a greener future in our cities. We do so by providing affordable access to private car alternatives and to encourage people to rethink their travel behavior. 

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The collaboration and associated use cases are part of the new framework agreement between the province of Utrecht and three MaaS providers (umob, Gaiyo – One key for all mobility & Automicle in collaboration with VCCR Advies BV) organized by Goedopweg. The agreement will be active for at least the upcoming 24 months to give MaaS a prominent role within the region and to boost user adoption. Under the new tender, participating parties will contribute via different use cases to an affordable and accessible MaaS eco-system. Inhabitants of the region will be encouraged to use public transport and sharing services for their daily commute.

For the purpose of this tender, both province and umob have set high demands for cyber security, price transparancy and ease of use, among other factors.

Bibi Jorissen, CEO at umob, says: “We are honoured by the trust the province of Utrecht have placed in us. Our infrastructure and ability to adopt quickly to user demands demonstrates our dedication to making shared services the new standard. With our solution, we can actively stimulate user adoption and make sure all inhabitants can make use of our services. That inclusitivy is one of our core values and part of our commitment.”

Last week the kick-off of Living Lab Maas took place, together with the alderman, Tyas Bijlholt, in the city center of Utrecht. Acknowledgements for setting up this collaboration between Provincie Utrecht, Municipality of Gemeente Amersfoort, Goedopweg and MaaS providers to provide efficient, affordable and accessible transport solutions to all residents over the next two to four years.

For more information contact:

[email protected]

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Rotterdam, The Netherlands, April 18, 2024 – MaaS platform umob, which fully integrates the use of shared mobility, taxi and public transport in one app, has acquired MaaS Global. The Finnish mobility scale-up, active in Vienna, Antwerp, Helsinki, Turku, Tokyo, Birmingham and throughout Switzerland, filed for bankruptcy last month. umob now acquires the technology behind MaaS Global and the by the company produced Whim app.

MaaS Global is the company behind the Whim app, which allows users to view all available travel options in one app. The company, founded in Finland in 2015, is considered the world’s first Mobility-as-a-Service company and Whim the first commercial MaaS service developed. The scale-up raised over $75 million in funding from NordicNinja, BP Ventures, Toyota and Mitsubishi, among others. The Whim app was rolled out in several major cities and counted 120 employees at its peak. Despite paving the road for MaaS around the world, its 1 million users and over 30 million rides made with Whim, bankruptcy was filed in March. The Rotterdam-based umob is appointed by the curator as the takeover party.

umob aims to continue the operation of Whim under its own name and build on the decade of MaaS experience of MaaS Global. “The acquisition of MaaS Global represents an acceleration in our mission to make umob a global MaaS platform. We soft-launched in the Netherlands last year, so that we could optimize our app, but now we are growing quickly. We successfully integrated shared mobility providers of mopeds and bikes like Cooltra, Donkey Republic and GO Sharing, in addition to public transport and taxi services. Our aim is to integrate all forms of mobility. Joining forces with MaaS Global, who has undoubtedly integrated more transport than anyone on a global level, enables us to faster scale throughout Europe,” says Raymon Pouwels, co-founder of umob.

“I am happy to see all the hard work and experiences of MaaS Global put into good use with umob. MaaS as a concept is still at its infancy and umob represents the consumer facing approach that will drive the concept forward,” says Sampo Hietanen, the founder of MaaS Global and the inventor behind the concept MaaS.

All providers in one app

umob’s MaaS platform fully integrates mobility providers into the umob app, meaning users only need one app to plan and pay for their trip, regardless of which provider is used and at the same price the provider charges. The integration requires extensive cooperation with providers, but also with government institutions that try to solve the mobility problems in their cities. Back in October 2023, umob raised $6.5 million to achieve this in The Netherlands.

“By integrating all mobility providers in one app, we not only make traveling easier for everyone, we also make mobility challenges more transparent for municipalities to solve them. We use data – anonymized of course – to map commuting patterns, see where bottlenecks are located and where opportunities are to make transport more sustainable. The acquisition of MaaS Global is also about knowledge and, important to us in today’s labor market, experienced specialists who are able to solve the global mobility challenges,” says Bibi Jorissen, co-founder of umob.

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With the addition of Check, alongside Felyx, GO Sharing and other transportation providers such as public transport, cab and shared bikes, umob provides access to the use of 50,000 vehicles through a single app.

A MaaS platform puts the traveler first and brings all travel options together in one app. Thus, with only an account for the MaaS app, travel can be made with all providers and at the same fare as with the provider.

In addition to Felyx and GO Sharing, umob has now fully integrated Check. This allows users in the municipalities where shared scooters are available to book and pay for transportation quickly and easily. Through the MaaS app, it is also possible to travel with shared (cargo) bikes, public transport and cabs.

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“Great news, right?” said a good-humored Raymon Pouwels (29). He and co-founder Bibi Jorissen (27) have raised €6 million from investors for their startup Umob. The Rotterdam startup has developed an app that should allow users to find, book and pay for all forms of shared and public transportation. ‘If you go to Paris or Barcelona you shouldn’t have to download tig different apps for share bikes, scooters or scooters, but just one.’

And the one app from the entrepreneurial duo, of course. Pouwels is familiar with such app solutions. He is founder of Go Sharing, known for its bright green shared scooter. Pouwels left early this year when the company went into receivership and was later acquired by Turkey’s BinBin. Go Sharing worked with similar apps. “But then you could only see where the vehicles were, booking always had to be done through the provider’s app.

Group of entrepreneurs invests in Umob

Other lesson he took away from the previous entrepreneurial adventure. ‘We want to keep the team small. It makes a difference that with such a platform you don’t manage the vehicles yourself.’ Go Sharing played a capital-intensive game. It raised €50 million, including from the investment vehicle of Quote 500 member Robert van der Wallen. That is not involved this time, says Pouwels. The money came from “a group of successful entrepreneurs who care about their privacy.

A hefty supply of two-wheelers is not needed now: so where does the Maasstad-based MaaS (mobility-as-a-service) app direct the millions. ‘Expansion of the software platform. We need to connect twenty providers. In addition, we need to hire staff and invest in marketing.’ Users of the app pay the same rate as if they were booking directly with the provider. Umob receives a fee per booking made from connected parties such as Felyx (scooters), Donkey Republic (bicycles) and cab companies.

European ambitions

Next year there should be 200,000 shared vehicles on the platform. For now, Umob is focusing on the Dutch market. ‘We are fortunate that many of the parties on our platform such as Bolt and Bird work internationally. So we can cross the border pretty quickly. ‘ Handy, because Pouwels and Jorissen’s ambition is to have a covering network in six European countries within three years.

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