Thank you to everyone that joined us Tuesday for the Urban Autonomy Summit Detroit. We’ll post video recordings shortly!
Far too many bike shops treat two-wheelers like they’re high-end sporting equipment: sleek and expensive pieces of hardware that are meant to be stored in the closet when not out bounding trails. As electric bicycling takes off, brands are finding they need new pathways to get consumers to treat these machines like something that can replace a car: take it to work, use it to run errands, and feel confident that when something goes wrong, it’ll be easy to fix.
Dan Carr, Co-Founder and CEO of Wombi, has been working to fix that, as he’s scaled his company across Australia, before taking it stateside. In today’s episode of Zag Talk, I sat down with him in his Culver City bike-shop and HQ, and we get into what it takes to build the financial and operational layers to offer bikes on a subscription basis, how biking compares in the U.S. versus down under, how the bike industry has recovered these past few years, and the current fundraising environment. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Dan since he first started kicking the tires on a U.S. launch, so it was a real delight that our team at MobilityVC could participate in his most recent funding round.
Also on the pod, Greg and I chat about Walmart’s expansion into 30-minute delivery (I inadvertently predicted that they would soon start offering food delivery, I swear we recorded this a day before that news went live) and tear into Matternet and SpaceX’s public listings, while Sela reports on the latest developments at Micromobility Europe. Listen in!
HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
Taking the curb to financial capitals: I’ll be in London and NYC the next few weeks. Startups and investors, we’ve got a few spots left at MobilityVC’s June 19 MobilityCafe in Shoreditch, hot off the heels of MOVE London. Apply to attend. And for everybody in the curb-community — policymakers, regulators, startups, media, investors, tinkerers, corporate types, etc — please join us, alongside our friends at Electric Avenue, for June 25th’s NYC Mobility & Delivery Tech Happy Hour, in Brooklyn.
Own goal: The World Cup is finally kicking off today, meaning we can finally put an end to those breathless “how will the international visitors ever make it to our suburban stadiums?!” think pieces. The New York Times has the most fun take in the series, as two reporters attempt to walk to New Jersey’s Meadowlands sports complex. As the crow flies, it’s less than five miles from Manhattan. But even America’s most iconic cities quickly peter out into sidewalk-free blobs just a few miles from the CBD. (This is less true, of course, in West Coast cities, which tend to have a far less distinct boundary between “city” and “suburb.”)
I guess they didn’t graduate… In a surprising turn of events, Starship Robotics is pulling out of the college campus market, which had long been its main turf in the States. While company founders are calling it a pivot to concentrate on grocery delivery, a market that the company already claims 20% penetration in countries like Finland, the abruptness is unusual: Starship was launching on new campuses as recently as late April. Expect Robot.com (Kiwi) and Avride to pick up many of these contracts, but the real question is if they’ll be able to negotiate any better terms with the likes of Grubhub and Sodexo.
Cars por la gente: Mexico is looking to move its way up the automotive value chain, revealing the Olinia. Built and largely designed / engineered in Mexico, the six-seater can only go 62 miles, but costs just $9k. That makes Ford’s $30k pickup, which is starting to pop up around Long Beach, a tad less impressive.
Slow train: NYC has finally broken ground on Phase Two of the Second Avenue Subway project, looking to extend the two-track train from 96th Street to Harlem. The NYT has some great photos, set in the tunnels the city dug back in the 1970s, before its half-century pause on the project. And over in London, officials are looking to extend the DLR across the Thames.
We’re rebuilding the gas station from first principles… You’ve seen Rivian’s Adventure Network and Rove ReChage by Gelson’s; now Starbucks is getting into the EV charging game. Meet the first SBUX co-located with a fast-charging hub, located on a car dealership lot in Orange County. (H/T HNGRY.)
Am I the only one that doesn’t need to constantly talk to my phone? DoorDash unveiled a slew of AI-powered app improvements, including conversation-based recommendations. Think “filling dinner for a family of 4.” Gopuff just rolled out some similar capabilities.
Wider wings: Wing, Alphabet’s drone delivery subsidiary, is making good on its plans to take its partnership with Walmart to 270 locations across the country. While earlier launches have covered low-density and low-regulation environments, this next phase includes tricker locales like Philadelphia, the SF Bay Area and San Diego.
Bringing downtown back up: Gensler has surveyed downtown-goers across the globe, looking at what would make locals more likely to spend time in their CBDs. Respondents aren’t just looking for mixed-uses and cultural districts, they’re specifically hoping to see downtowns go green and light on cars.
All hail the Curbivore vote? Congratulations to two friends of the curb on advancing from the primaries to the general election. State Senator Scott Wiener will advance as he looks to take retiring Rep. Pelosi’s seat: catch our chat about housing growth and state capacity from last October. And Councilmember Nithya Raman edged out Spencer Pratt, to face off against Mayor Bass in the fall: rewatch her speech from Curbivore 2026.
A few good links: NY legislature looks to force MTA to use two-person train crews in perpetuity. Harry talks to Bliq’s CEO about deploying AVs in Europe. Vingroup enters Indian ridehail market. CargoX raises $250M for autonomous deliveries, helmed by former Talabat CEO. SPACs are so back: Factorial raises $100M as the solid-state battery startup goes public. Meanwhile, Donut Labs’ supposed solid-state battery tech looks to likely be fraudulent. UP-NS rail merger receives heightened scrutiny. Evotrex raises $30M for hybrid-electric RVs. Who will pay for the revamped NY Penn Station? Standard Bots raises $200M. That’s nothing… Bezos-helmed Prometheus raises $12 billion, at a $41 billion valuation. How to speed up the bus. Illinois ridehail workers unionize. Photos of New Yorkers struggling to park over the decades. Edmonton takes rail ops in-house, looks to rebuild state capacity. NYCDOT to improve bike connections to Brooklyn Bridge. Lime rolls out new vehicles to service World Cup host cities: anecdotally, I’ve seen lots of their new hardware around LA.
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew
