SINGAPORE and JAKARTA, Indonesia and TOKYO, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Beam, Asia Pacific's leading micromobility operator has announced a Series B funding round of US$93 million. The round is led by private equity firm Affirma Capital, and includes participation from Sequoia Capital India, Hana Ventures, ICT Capital, EDBI, AC Ventures, RTP Global, and Momentum Venture Capital, among others.
From L to R - Beam series - Saturn e-scooter, Jupiter e-moped, Apollo e-bike
Despite interruptions caused by COVID-19 related mobility restrictions, the demand for micromobility continues to grow in Asia Pacific - Beam grew topline revenue by 15x since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beam works with local governments in cities across Asia Pacific to provide safe and sustainable shared micromobility as their communities become interested in cleaner and more sustainable ways to travel.
Funds raised will be used to bring Beam's shared micromobility vehicles and technologies into new markets such as Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Turkey. Beam plans to be the first tri-modal micromobility operator in Asia Pacific by introducing e-mopeds into its vehicle portfolio. In addition, Beam will use the funds to further enhance its suite of safety technologies through the deployment of MARS ["Micromobility Augmented Riding Safety"], which includes cutting-edge safety innovations that protect pedestrians, enhance Councils' control of city spaces for zoning and parking, and drive safer usage of vehicles by riders.
Beam has always placed safety first in everything we do, and we continue to make investments into our technology to make every ride a safe one for the rider and the community. As part of its next-phase rollout, Beam is also introducing its new 5th generation Beam Saturn e-scooter which has 12-inch wheels (20% larger than the average e-scooter) combined with hydraulic suspension for the smoothest riding experience. The Beam Saturn has fully swappable batteries with sufficient capacity for 110 km of riding range (double the average e-scooter battery capacity) to further improve sustainability.
Beam's Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Deb Gangopadhyay, said, "We are excited to serve new markets and journeys with our Beam Jupiter e-moped, and to bring our 5th generation Beam Saturn e-scooter to cities with MARS technology that will provide significant advancements in safety, city zoning control, rider behavior management, and sustainability. We're particularly proud of the innovations we've created to reduce risks to pedestrians with the Beam Pedestrian Shield, an onboard AI camera that can instantly and accurately detect pedestrians to prevent collisions, and detect footpaths to automatically reduce vehicle speed or even prevent riding completely."
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alan Jiang stated, "Micromobility has taken cutting edge safety systems such as Beam's MARS technology and implemented them onto small electric vehicles such as e-scooters, e-bikes, and e-mopeds to help cities flow better for everyone. We are extremely excited to partner with a visionary fund such as Affirma Capital to bring lower cost, greener, and safer mobility for cities across APAC."
Taeyub Kim, Co-Founder and Head of Korea at Affirma Capital, stated, "The micromobility industry is unfolding rapidly in Asia Pacific and Beam is the regional leader in the space. Beam is equipped with highly capable management, technological agility, proven operational capabilities, and a capital-efficient expansion strategy to solidify its leadership. We believe that Affirma Capital's cross-regional footprint and strong network will fuel the Company's exponential growth. Micromobility is an industry that looks to be dominated by top tier regional category winners. We believe Beam is well-positioned to be the category winner in Asia Pacific."
Thuy Dropsey, Managing Director and Co-Head of ASEAN at Affirma Capital, added, "We are deeply impressed by the Company's engagement and partnership approach with stakeholders, including cities, communities, users and employees, and its leadership in high impact areas of environmental, social and governance, enabled by strategic investments in advanced hardware and proprietary software. Deb and Alan have demonstrated unique complementary strengths in building a cohesive team to operate across markets with dynamic structures and challenges. We are excited to partner with the Company to increase the velocity of deployment, deepen penetration in existing markets and bring sustainable micromobility access to more Asian cities."
About Beam
Beam is Asia Pacific's largest and fastest-growing shared micromobility company with operations across five countries. We're on a mission to turn little drives into better rides and make cities flow better for everyone, and we're leading the way in Asia Pacific, in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Learn more @ www.ridebeam.com
About Affirma Capital
Affirma Capital is an independent emerging market private equity firm owned and operated by the former senior leadership of Standard Chartered Private Equity. It currently manages over US$3.5 billion in assets for leading global limited partners and sovereign wealth funds. Affirma Capital has offices in Singapore, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Dubai, Mumbai and Seoul.
Learn more @ https://affirmacapital.com/
Media Contacts
Rajiv Menon
Sling and Stone for Beam
rajivmenon@slingstone.com
Beam Press Office
press@ridebeam.com
Affirma Capital
media@affirmacapital.com
