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Electric scooter leasing platform MUTE International tops £810k in crowdfunding

Mute international

MUTE International, a platform that enables people to lease electric scooters, has raised £810,790 on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

The company leases its scooters to both businesses and individuals and is currently active in Bali, Perth and Shanghai, but has so far achieved the greatest success in the latter, claiming to have over 200 scooters on the road in Shanghai.

MUTE, which has its HQ in London, was founded in 2016 by Patrick Davin, who has over 25 years’ experience in the motorcycle industry and worked for 12 of those in Shanghai specialising in electric scooter manufacture, sourcing and distribution.

Natasha Terinova, UK director at MUTE, explained the majority of the funding raised will be used to buy scooters to satisfy current customer demand.

“We also need to finalise the development of our app and website. These should be ready in September. The rest of the funds will be distributed between marketing and staff costs,” she added.

The MUTE app will enable companies and individuals to select their desired number of vehicles, the length of their plan and their chosen model of scooter. They will then be able to pay via the app with the choice of a variety of payment methods, including PayPal and credit/debit card.

Terinova said MUTE decided to raise capital via a crowdfunding site, as opposed to through Angels or VCs, in order to raise more awareness of its service.

“This choice has paid off as, during the crowdfunding process, we were contacted by some of the biggest food and courier delivery companies and we are now starting pilot projects with them. As a result of crowdfunding we also have a number of interesting partnership opportunities,” she explained.

“We can’t wait to crack on with making MUTE a global success,” Terinova concluded.

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