Luup Raises New Funding of 4.5 Billion Yen

Luup, Inc. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Daiki Okai; hereinafter “Luup”) has raised a total of approximately 4.5 billion yen, of which approximately 3.8 billion yen through equity issuance and approximately 0.7 billion yen through debt and asset financing. The new funding brings Luup’s total capital raised to date to approximately 9.1 billion yen. Luup will use the funds raised to further expand its business by increasing the number of stations and improving its vehicles and apps, while focusing more on strengthening safety measures and raising awareness of new traffic rules in preparation for the enforcement of the revised Road Traffic Act on July 1, 2023.

As in the previous round, Spiral Capital is the lead investor in equity issuance, and additional investments were made by existing investors such as ANRI, SMBC Venture Capital, and Mori Trust, in addition to new investors including one of the largest pension funds in Japan, 31VENTURES, a corporate venture capital of Mitsui Fudosan, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation. In addition, we have initiated transactions with several new financial institutions in debt and asset financing.

Investors participating in the equity issuance

Existing Investors
・ANRI
・SMBC Venture Capital
・Spiral Capital
・ZENRIN FUTURE PARTNERS
・Chiba Dojo Fund
・Mitsubishi UFJ Capital
・Mori Trust

New Investors
・31VENTURES Global Innovation Fund 2
・GMO Internet Group
・i-nest capital
・SMBC Nikko Securities
・Green Coinvest
・Chishima Real Estate
・Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation
・One other company

Comment from the Investors 

・Takashi Chiba, Partner, Spiral Capital

Following the previous round, we made an additional investment in this round as the lead investor. The reason for this is that Luup is a rare company that is truly trying to create a “social infrastructure”. It is no mean feat to build a service that can be called a transportation infrastructure, as it requires cooperation of numerous stakeholders, including users, landowners, local governments, relevant ministries, investors, and public opinion. Since the launch of the e-scooter business in April 2021, Luup, under the strong leadership of Mr. Okai and his management team, has developed stations at an overwhelming speed, promoted the creation of a safe and secure system in cooperation with relevant ministries. The products have become popular among users and are used daily, leading to the company’s dominant position in the field of micromobility. With the implementation of the revised Road Traffic Law, which is expected to further improve convenience, scheduled for July 1 of this year, we expect that the product will continue to evolve as a transportation infrastructure that enriches people’s daily lives.

・Shunsuke Nakaji, Principal, ANRI

We have had the opportunity to watch the Luup team for a long time as they have implemented what they initially envisioned year after year, and we have high expectations for their ability to continue to execute, which is why we made this additional investment.
We are honored to have had the opportunity to make additional investments in all of the rounds of funding, starting from the pre-seed discussion of the idea stage, through the first round of funding, and up to the current round.
We still have a long way to go in creating an infrastructure that makes the entire city ‘a station front,’ but I have high expectations for Luup.

・31VENTURES
Atsumi Kanaya, Executive Officer and General Manager of Venture Co-creation Department, Mitsui Fudosan / Yuki Matsuo, Director, Global Brain

We are working with Luup to provide sharing services of mobility exclusively for condominium residents, aiming not only to improve user satisfaction by making daily transportation more convenient, but also to increase the value of real estate itself. We have also invested in the company because we share the desire to not only provide a new means of transportation, but also to create a new type of urban development through micromobility.
As a partner in creating attractive cities, we will continue to support Luup in its mission to “create an infrastructure that makes the entire city ‘a station front.’”

Comment from Daiki Okai, CEO of Luup

With the mission to “create an infrastructure that makes the entire city ‘a station front,’” Luup provides a sharing service for electric, compact, and single-passenger micromobility “LUUP” in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Utsunomiya, and Kobe. The number of stations has already exceeded 3,000 in the two years since the introduction of e-scooters, and we plan to expand our service area into multiple urban cities. Just as railroad companies once developed cities along their lines, we aim to contribute to the value of the surrounding properties by creating LUUP stations on properties far from the train station. We are very pleased that we were able to raise this capital despite the unstable market conditions, and we believe that this is a result of the recognition of LUUP’s value as a sustainable transportation infrastructure, which is necessary for the future.

After the implementation of the revised Road Traffic Law scheduled for July 1 of this year, the number of micromobility users is expected to further increase. We are currently receiving inquiries from many property owners, municipalities, and companies. To expand our business, we believe it is important to fulfill our responsibility as a leading company in the industry and work to improve safety and educate people about the correct rules.

Although there are now more than 60 members in Luup, a small number of professionals in the company cooperate with each other to develop and operate the business in each function, such as software development, hardware development, product development, local collaboration, station expansion, operation construction, and corporate development. We will continue to maintain our small number of highly skilled members and aim to be an organization that creates new transportation infrastructure in the future.

We are looking forward to hearing from those who want to build LUUP with us, so that 50 years from now, when people look back on the past, they will say, “LUUP is what made this city what it is”.

The entire Luup team will continue to work with our full effort to realize our mission to “create an infrastructure that makes the entire city ‘a station front’”, and we look forward to your continued support.

About Luup, Inc.
Luup, Inc. will create a new short-distance mobility infrastructure that makes the entire city “a station front” through the sharing service of electric, compact, and single-passenger micromobility. We currently provide a high-density sharing service of e-scooters and e-bikes in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Utsunomiya, and Kobe. We will reduce CO2 emissions by popularizing electric micromobility and introduce new electric mobility that can be ridden by the elderly, and ultimately create a sustainable society where all people can get around safely and conveniently.

• Location: AKIHABARA CENTRAL SQUARE 4F, 3-21-24 Kanda-Sakumachō, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0025
• Representative: Daiki Okai
• Founded: July 2018
• URL: https://luup.sc/

Press Contact
● Luup, Inc.
Public Relations: Misato Matsumoto, Megumi Muramoto
E-mail: pr@luup.co.jp