Spanish micromobility startup Reby acquired by House of Lithium for $100M

Micromobility startup Reby has been acquired by House of Lithium, a Canadian private equity firm which already held a large stake in the firm.

House of Lithium invests in private and publicly listed entities involved in or connected with the electric mobility value chain and has now snapped up Reby for $100 million.

Reby, founded in 2018 by Pep Gómez, started off by developing e-scooters in the Spanish city of Zaragoza during the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst also establishing an SaaS-oriented ‘MaaS’ (mobility-as-a-service) platform. Following that, it then won 18 agreements with public administrations for e-mobility across Italy and Spain.

Reby had raised a total of $17.9 million from EXOR, 14W Ventures, Neo Fund, Fuel Capital, Hard Yaka, Day One Ventures, and individuals such as Simon Rothman (founder of eBay Motors and board member to Tesla and Lyft), Marcelo Gigliani (APAX Digital) and  Hugo Arevalo (Jobandtalent).

In a statement, Kevin Taylor, chairman of House of Lithium, said: “Combining Reby’s leading IoT technology and proven ridesharing business model with House of Lithium’s manufacturing, distribution, e-commerce, and retail assets, will contribute to creating an end-to-end mobility platform to maximise top-line opportunities and bottom-line results.”

Reby prides itself in manufacturing its own vehicles, over Chinese-made scooters, and financing vehicle investments largely with asset-backed debt.

Gómez added: “The financial capacity and capital markets expertise of the House of Lithium team makes this a great partnership with the extra power that Reby needs to continue its growth…The time for EV companies burning money with artificial growth is over, giving us a massive opportunity to win in an untapped market focusing on infrastructure regulation and R&D development in security and public space occupation, which is imperative for cities.”

Gómez will carry on managing the company, alongside the rest of the management team.

The company says it closed last year with approximately $15 million of revenue.