I have a hard time understanding why investors like these types of companies? Is there even a profitable example? Maybe they can still make lots of money from an IPO... how are they difficult from scammers?
1) compelling if it all works out. Invest clear-eyed and hope the founding team figures out the roadblocks.
2) Pattern-matching / top-down portfolios. Mobile apps. Sharing economy. Subscription businesses. Electric Vehicles. Internet of Things. A lot of investors decide on themes for portfolio before they look at investments. Scooter sharing ticks a lot of boxes.
3) Adverse selection. It's a simple idea - anyone can grasp scooters as subscription. So the simplest-minded investors chose this rather than more subtle ideas.
4) as another comment suggested, investors are playing a game of musical chairs between funding rounds. Chamath Palihapitiya claims this as the reason his firm is stepping back from VC -- so he's walking the talk here https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/start-up-economy-is-a-ponzi-...
It's a product tons of people do/will use in every city in the US that doesn't require physical presence, aside from chargers on contract.
How many products can you say that about?
There are only a few things nearly everyone wants: food, housing, transportation, utilities, sex, clothing, medical care, hair cuts, google search.
Nearly all of those require constant in person staff and/or have a ton of regulations. The exception here is Google, which is why they are killing it. Google search-and software in general-makes money while people sleep and doesn't require linear addition of staff to scale.
Other stuff that people buy: e.g. video games, movies, trinkets, rock climbing gym memberships come down to people's personal taste and they might even want some variety (e.g. making a sequel). Everyone wants transportation though and they're OK with the same thing every day, as long as it works.
This is a case where they are taking something with absurd demand and looking for the profit second.
1) compelling if it all works out. Invest clear-eyed and hope the founding team figures out the roadblocks.
2) Pattern-matching / top-down portfolios. Mobile apps. Sharing economy. Subscription businesses. Electric Vehicles. Internet of Things. A lot of investors decide on themes for portfolio before they look at investments. Scooter sharing ticks a lot of boxes.
3) Adverse selection. It's a simple idea - anyone can grasp scooters as subscription. So the simplest-minded investors chose this rather than more subtle ideas.
4) as another comment suggested, investors are playing a game of musical chairs between funding rounds. Chamath Palihapitiya claims this as the reason his firm is stepping back from VC -- so he's walking the talk here https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/start-up-economy-is-a-ponzi-...