Superpedestrian develops electric micromobility vehicles and an advanced software platform centered on its LINK e-scooter and Vehicle Intelligence system. The company recently announced Pedestrian Defense, an AI-based safety system that fuses multiple vehicle sensors to detect unsafe riding behaviors and can automatically slow or stop a scooter in real time. Superpedestrian’s LINK fleet has launched in 57 cities and has logged tens of millions of miles, and the company holds over 40 patents in vehicle safety, automated maintenance, fleet optimization, and context awareness. Following field tests, the firm plans to deploy Pedestrian Defense in the first 25 cities across the U.S. and Europe during 2022, while expanding the LINK shared e-scooter service and boosting R&D. The new funding will be used to scale deployments in micromobility and support advanced R&D programs. Superpedestrian was spun out of MIT in 2013 and positions itself as a world-leader in transportation robotics and human-scale mobility. Superpedestrian develops the LINK e-scooter, which incorporates On-Board Intelligence and an active safety system. The company intends to use the new funds to accelerate expansion of its LINK scooter fleet. Spun out of MIT and led by founder and CEO Assaf Biderman, Superpedestrian invested eight years and $75M to patent more than 30 electric vehicle technologies. The LINK scooter performs autonomous maintenance and safety verification before every ride, with each vehicle containing five computers that act as an "A.I. Mechanic," monitoring components thousands of times per second and self-repairing electronic systems. From the outside LINK appears like a typical scooter but is more rugged and designed to protect riders and the vehicle in real time. LINK has thousands of vehicles on the road across 12 cities from Seattle to Rome, and the company is vying for permits in New York City and other major global cities. Superpedestrian, founded in 2012 by CEO Assaf Biderman, is a mobility engineering and technology company known for designing micromobility vehicles including the Copenhagen Wheel. It develops intelligent e-scooters featuring a proprietary Vehicle Intelligence System (VIS) that monitors the entire vehicle in real time and runs a self-diagnostic check before each ride. Superpedestrian’s scooters are engineered to last more than 2,500 rides, can travel up to 55 miles on a single charge, and the company says resilient vehicles keep per-ride operating costs around 50% lower than other operators. The company acquired Zagster’s micromobility fleet operations business and launched LINK, a shared micromobility platform that lets riders rent e-scooters via smartphone. LINK emphasizes collaboration with cities, fast onboard geofence enforcement, rider safety, and fleet management designed to meet city needs. Superpedestrian makes electric scooters equipped with a vehicle-intelligence platform that detects more than 100 situations that could lead to malfunction, triages issues, and determines responses to prevent vehicle damage and rider injury. Its software continuously monitors for problems such as water penetration, cut internal wires, battery cell temperature imbalances, and braking issues, and can enforce local speed limits via geofencing. The scooters can last up to seven days without recharging, assuming about five to six rides per day. Superpedestrian is currently focused on selling its platform and vehicles to operators, though it plans to eventually sell directly to consumers. The company is on track to launch in multiple markets in January, with operating partners yet to be announced. Financially, the startup has raised a total of $64 million to date. Superpedestrian began as the maker of the Copenhagen Wheel, a circular unit that adds motorized assist, battery and sensors to bicycles. The company is shifting to a B2B business selling hardware and software diagnostics to e-bike, scooter and moped fleet operators, leveraging roughly one million kilometers of aggregated data from Copenhagen customers. Its stack includes sensors, embedded controllers, and software protected by dozens of patents across multiple jurisdictions. Superpedestrian says its technology improves rider control and synchronization of power to pedaling, and can monitor battery health to reduce overheating risk. The company is micro-vehicle agnostic and plans to introduce these products and services into the rapidly growing shared scooter and e-bike market. It employs roughly 50 people and has drawn investor support for the new direction.

Total raised

$243M

Funding rounds

8

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Feb 2022