MEET THE GOBAL STARTUP OF THE YEAR 2021 - VOI
In this interview, we talk with Voi, winner of the Startup of the Year 2021 award.
Voi is a Swedish company devoted to creating cities free of congestion, noise, and pollution. Going from point A to point B in time, total silence and free from fossil fuels. Voi made it possible by taking the most advanced technology and making it accessible to everyone.
Among the topics discussed were challenges, motivation, and plans for the future. These are some of the highlights we reviewed.
The title of startup of the year is a big honor. How does it feel to have that title?
This felt special for several reasons, in particular, two:
1) Denmark’s former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen handed over the prize and his government and ministry were very involved in legalizing the electric scooter (el-løbehjul) in 2019, which allowed Voi to be the first legally compliant operator to launch in Denmark
2) Electric bikes and electric scooters have been a huge part of our lives at Voi over the past 3-4 years, which is why it feels extra special to receive this award in the Bike Capital of the World, Copenhagen.
What has been your biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge this year that I am very proud of is how we climbed to the top of the industry when it comes to trips per week. During the summer people did 2 million rides per week on the Voi platform. That is a huge feat.
What plans do you have for Voi?
We only launched a bit over three years ago, there is still so much to do. We are already covering more than 70 cities in Europe, but there are hundreds more to enter just in Europe.
How does your location in the Nordic Startup Region benefit you?
Stockholm has been a fantastic city to build a company from. We hire talent from all over the world and people look at Stockholm and the Nordics and acknowledge that there is something unique going on here where we manage to build great companies (Kry, Budbee, Pleo to name a few) and simultaneously take care of our employees and our families (long parental leave, 5 weeks of vacation mandated by law, etc).
Have you learned anything surprising this year that others would benefit from knowing?
We are spending a lot of time figuring out the future of parking in cities. I was very happy to learn that 65% of respondents in a survey we did in the UK are positive towards dedicated parking space for micromobility in the city. Add to this that a normal car parking spot can swallow 20 e-scooters and there is a lot of space reserved for cars in existing cities. This sets us up for a complete redesign of how we will use the space in the cities in the next decade where there will be significantly less space for cars on the ground, and more parking underground. On the ground, there will be parks, cafés, and light electric vehicles.
What motivates you?
The 15-minute city motivates me. The world is dependent on cities, and cities should be made for a living, with less car dependency. If you have all your essential needs within a 15-minute reach without the need to own a car, that’s a very livable city. Every day at Voi, we are enabling 15-minute cities with our micromobility platform, and there are so many cities out there that we need to power up!
Do you have any advice for future candidates who will compete in this category?
I am very proud to have received this award, but also acknowledge that there are a lot of great people and companies out there that never received any accolades. My advice is: be bold and work smart. Sooner or later you will be recognised in one way or another!
Thank you, Voi!
Written by Natalija Josipović
Partners of the Global Startup Awards include
Livatek BioInnovation Institute Goodwille Danske Bank Aarhus University Good Monday Sustainia NIRAS GREEN TECH HUB Innovation Centre Denmark DI - Dansk Industri DROBE.media
