Irish e-scooter start-up Zipp set for UK launch, frame made from aircraft-grade aluminium

Brian O’Driscoll, the former Irish rugby captain is among several angel investors to have funded Irish e-scooter start-up Zipp Mobility in a €500,000 funding round.

The funding has now risen to more than €1 million, as the financing to be used now for the launch in Britain.

In 2019, Zipp Mobility was founded by Charlie Gleeson, received approval from the UK department for transport last week to have its e-scooters used in sharing scheme trials.

The company is in discussions with multiple councils in Britain to secure licences to provide services thereafter the government announced plans to accelerate trials of rented e-scooter schemes as part of its strategy to explore transport alternatives in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Zipp e-scooter frame made from aircraft-grade aluminium, 10-inch airless tyres, a swappable battery, dual braking, a wide base and a low centre of gravity. The scooters are also equipped with nano-septic handlebar wraps that, according to the start-up, reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission by 99.98%.

Zipp is headquartered at NovaUCD, Dublin and is an Enterprise Ireland High-Potential Start-Up (HPSU) company.

The start-up claims its e-scooter has a useful life of more than two years, compared with the estimated industry average for shared scooters of just three months.

Gleeson said: “This new funding puts Zipp in a really strong position to launch trials in the UK. These are exciting times for the Zipp Mobility team and this backing is a great mark of the momentum we are enjoying as a company,”

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