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Hi there,
Hope you've all had a good week so far.
A bit of housekeeping before we get going: If our emails ever end up in your spam folders, please add newsletter@tnmt.com to your contacts.
Now back to the regular program.
Today's newsletter specs: 843 words, an ultra-fast 4 minute read.
Enjoy.
Lennart Dobravsky
Editor-in-Chief
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Where travelers prefer to sit
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It's a fate you wouldn’t wish upon your enemies. It’s a form of cruel and unusual punishment. It’s a curse that can plague a third of passengers on any given flight.
It’s the middle seat, and, technically speaking, it’s the worst.
A while ago, we ran a survey among 850 travelers to find out where they prefer to sit on an airplane.
The main takeaway was quite clear: there don't seem to be many advantages to sitting in the middle.
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As many of us slowly prepare to air travel again, the Washington Post was kind enough to list the unofficial rules of the middle seat for those who are stuck there.
In summary:
- The middle seat owns both armrests.
- The middle seat must not exploit its position by annexing more leg space.
- The middle seat should not sleep on anyone's shoulder.
- The middle seat must be taken if traveling in a couple.
- The middle seat should attempt to time bathroom visits with the aisle seat.
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The battle for air taxi leadership
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Who is winning the battle for air taxi innovation supremacy?
While startups tend to generate most of the air taxi headlines these days, we should not underestimate the power of incumbents.
In our widely-cited Air Taxi Report, we ranked all the companies active in developing air taxi technology based on the ‘Patent Asset Index’ score—the gold standard when it comes to evaluating the strength of a company's patent portfolio.
It turns out that traditional aircraft manufacturer Boeing leads the sector in overall patent portfolio strength, ahead of all the heavily-hyped startups such as Joby Aviation, Volocopter, and Lilium.
And Boeing is not the only incumbent ranking high:
- Airbus comes in third
- Chinese automotive giant GEELY is the number four
- and Hyundai follows on rank six
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Incumbents' long-standing technology expertise, think of hardware development and manufacturing know-how, appears to give them an "unfair advantage" when it comes to building relevant air taxi IP.
For more insights into the state of air taxis and all the technology leaders, download our free report right here.
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Without a doubt, the pandemic has shaken up the Travel and Mobility Tech startup ecosystem unlike anything we have ever seen before.
The virus has separated strong startups from the weak.
Fortunately, most of Berlin’s home-grown travel and mobility innovators have been able to survive the longest travel drought our industry has ever faced, thanks to a vibrant local Venture Capital landscape that provided most of the much-needed financial backing these firms so desperately needed to withstand the crisis.
Below you find the updated overview of the 20 most-funded Travel and Mobility Tech startups from our hometown of Berlin as of today.
The group collectively raised more than half of all VC-Dollars invested in German startups of our sector over the past year—in line with pre-Covid financing trends as we outlined in our 2019 startup report.
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Two wheels are better than four
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This week's data chart of the week comes from the Financial Times.
In an extensive piece covering the path to the post-Covid city, author Simon Kuper speculates on the urban infrastructure of tomorrow and its impact on mobility.
The main thesis: Electric cars are not the future for dense cities.
Instead, electric bicycles appear as an unbelievably practical solution, completely underestimated.
To support his point, the article compares sales of e-bikes vs. electric vehicles. It turns out e-bikes outsold electric cars more than fivefold in Europe in 2019.
This trend was most likely further accelerated in 2020.
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On a similar note, did you know that France is offering the owners of ageing cars the opportunity to hand over their vehicles for scrap in return for a 2,500 euro ($2,975.00) grant to buy an electric bicycle?
It's true, read more here.
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Our recommended must reads
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SPACE TRAVEL SHIFTS TO PRIVATE – In the past 20 years, more private companies have entered the space travel industry bringing commercialized space vacations a step closer. Despite the pandemic, it was also one of the highest-growth industries. What are the current big players and the industry outlook?
 Read more by McKinsey
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REMOTE WORK MEANS MORE BUSINESS TRAVEL? – A new report from AMEX GBT claims that remote work will actually lead to more business travel. Reasons include a higher emphasis on professional development and to better gauge professional chemistry and real-time response in client meetings.
Read more by Phocuswire
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AIRBNB'S 100+ REASONS FOR OPTIMISM – In one of its biggest platform updates so far, Airbnb introduced more than 100 new features this week in anticipation of unprecedented travel rebound. Some features include flexible dates and destinations, including matching to stay in unique properties such as castle or treehouses.
Read more by Phocuswire
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THE BIG ASIAN MERGER – Two big tech giants, the mobility company GoJek and the e-commerce platform Tokopedia, have announced a merger to form GoTo Group. This is a further push for the ride-hailing company GoJek to become a SuperApp through financial and e-commerce services.
Read more by TechCrunch
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SALESFORCE WANTS INTO GREEN TRAVEL – Dissatisfied with the progress on sustainable travel, Salesforce has announced to invest into SAF Innovation, a green hotel certification partnership, and a very own business travel emissions calculations.
Read more by Business Travel News
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Most recent Venture Capital deals
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 = Exit Alert (startup listed at the stock exchange or got acquired)
 = Unicorn Alert (post-deal company valuation at >$1B)
Beta Technologies – the US-based eVTOL manufacturer raised $368M from Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Fidelity Management & Research Company.
Virtuo – the French car rental platform raised $60.48M from Alpha Intelligence Capital Fund, AXA Venture Partners, and further investors.
Hoilidu – the Munich-headquartered vacation rental booking company raised $45M from 83North, Prime Ventures, and further investors.
Portside – the US-based aviation startup that manages the backend of flight operations raised $17M from Tiger Global Management, I2BF Global Ventures, and SOMA Capital.
Fly Now Pay Later – the UK-based travel payment startup raised $14M from Revenio Capital, Taurus Wealth Advisors, and further investors.
Go2Joy – the Vietnam-based hotel booking platform raised $6.1M from HB Investments, Platform Partners Asset Management, and SV Investment.
iVvy – the Australian cloud-based event management platform raised $5.43M from Gandel Invest(Tony Gandel), and Thorney Investment Group.
Vacayou – the US-based wellness travel booking site raised $3.3M from Tampa Bay Lightning, Relevance Ventures, and further angel investors.
Htrip – the Chinese data analysis operator based on offline accommodation data raised an undisclosed amount from TransAsia Private Capital.
WeRide – the Chinese fully autonomous vehicle developer raised an undisclosed amount from ALPVIEW Capital, China Media Capital, and further investors.
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