Superpedestrian Gets $60 Million Funding Boost

Ed Skyler, executive vice president of global public affairs at Citi, declined to disclose the size of the bank’s investment in Superpedestrian. But he said Citi believes the firm has a good leadership team and a well-designed product. The funding was made through Citi’s $200 million impact fund, which is designed to generate returns while tackling societal problems.

Citi is synonymous in New York City with its sponsorship of Citi Bike, the docked bike share system that is run by Lyft Inc. Mr. Skyler said he doesn’t fear that Superpedestrian, if it is successful, will compete with Citi Bike bicycles in New York. “People should have options and we believe that there’s more than enough room for both,” he said.

Electric scooters still have a long way to go in New York City where, until recently, they were illegal. The city’s department of transportation is proceeding cautiously after other cities had issues with the vehicles being ridden recklessly or strewn across sidewalks.

Superpedestrian is among more than 25 companies that expressed interest in the pilot program that the city expects to launch in March. It will operate only in the outer-boroughs because scooter share remains illegal in Manhattan.

Superpedestrian was founded eight years ago by Chief Executive Assaf Biderman, a faculty member at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Mr. Biderman and a team that included 40 robotics engineers spent more than four years designing a vehicle intelligence system that can diagnose and maintain itself. Before the latest investment, the company raised $75 million in prior rounds of funding.

The company’s first product, a smart electric wheel that turned an ordinary bicycle into a hybrid electric bike, wasn’t a commercial success and is no longer for sale.

The company believes its diagnostic and other technologies will be invaluable in the scooter market, where firms struggle to turn a profit because of equipment, maintenance and repair costs. “Everybody is losing their pants in this business,” said Mr. Biderman, who is 43 years old.

Superpedestrian says it can keep costs lower than competitors because its scooters, which operate under the brand LINK, monitor and in some cases repair themselves. As a result, they last longer and don’t need to be maintained or repaired as regularly as other scooters.

LINK scooters run a self-diagnosis every 30 minutes as well as before and throughout each ride. If the scooter senses that components such as battery cells or brakes aren’t performing correctly, it modifies its performance or stops. The firm says such diagnostics make its scooters safer than competitors too.

Scooters have created myriad issues for cities since they were first introduced a few years ago. Some companies that compete with Superpedestrian have been sued after people were seriously injured or killed on scooters that allegedly malfunctioned or were driven recklessly. Cities have also had to deal with complaints of scooters being ridden on sidewalks and in parks and other places where they were prohibited.

Mr. Biderman said Superpedestrian has solutions for some of the challenges and is working on fixes for others.

Its scooters use a geofencing technology that can tell in under a second if the rider is in a prohibited area and stop the ride. They can also tell if a person is riding the wrong way or is regularly braking hard and will send the user a notification that the company doesn’t tolerate unsafe behavior.

The company has also developed sensors that can tell if two people are attempting to ride the same scooter. It hopes to introduce a feature in the spring that will prevent such a scooter from moving.

The company launched its LINK scooter in Fort Pierce, Fla., in January. Since then it has expanded to 11 other cities, including Seattle, Madrid and Rome. Mr. Biderman said this latest round of funding will allow Superpedestrian to expand to dozens more cities in the next year.

Write to Paul Berger at [email protected]