Mountain View, California-based Boosted recently announced that it raised $60 million in Series B funding. This brings Boosted’s total funding to $70 million since being founded.
This round of funding was led by Khosla Ventures and iNovia Capital. And StartX and Bay Meadows also participated in this round. In conjunction with this round of funding, iNovia general partner and former Google CFO Patrick Pichette will be taking a preferred board seat from an independent at Boosted.
Photo Credit: Boosted
Boosted launched in 2012 and the company is known for creating electric skateboards at a price range of $749 for the Boosted Mini S to the $1,599 Boosted Stealth, according to VentureBeat. The Boosted Stealth is able to travel at up to 24MPH at a range of 14 miles.
“Today’s generation is quickly adopting light electric vehicles as a superior way to commute, saving both time and money over existing options while enjoying the ride,” said Boosted CEO Jeff Russakow in a statement. “However, the majority of lightweight vehicles on the street today are leisure-grade or toy-grade products, when riders need vehicle-grade products that provide exceptional acceleration and braking performance, safety, durability, and superior design. Boosted has been perfecting street-quality technologies for the electric skateboard market for years where the vehicles must be incredibly high performance and durable, and only regenerative braking is even an option! Once we install our unique powertrain technology into other light vehicle types, they become Boosted-quality vehicles overnight versus what is out there today.”
With this round of funding, Boosted is planning to expand into more light electric vehicle form factors. Boosted is also going to use the funding for global growth.
“With most city trips today coming in at less than 3-5 km, the new technology in light electric vehicles offer an unparalleled advantage for speed, convenience, cost, environmental footprint, and fun,” added Pichette. “There’s a profound trend in the making with mobility right now – one that will touch billions of people – and we’re excited to be part of it.”
The personal mobility market has been growing at a rapid pace as ride-hailing companies and electric scooters are now ubiquitous around the world. Some of the other major players in the personal mobility space include Lime and Bird. Lime recently raised $335 million and Bird also secured a $300 million round of funding earlier this year.
Last year, Boosted co-founder and former CEO Sanjay Dastoor departed from the company and launched an electric scooter company called Skip — which raised $100 million in a debt round of funding earlier this month. Boosted co-founder and CTO John Ulmen is currently overseeing Boosted’s product engineering team. Boosted’s electric skateboards are now sold in 34 markets.
Prior to this funding round, Boosted graduated from the Y Combinator and Stanford StartX accelerator programs. And the company has grown tenfold since 2016. Boosted said that 82% of riders use a Boosted board as part of their commute. And the company has collectively seen coverage of more than 20 million miles to date. Plus the Boosted Mini was recently recognized by Time Magazine as one of the Top Inventions of 2018.
“We have really enjoyed partnering with the Boosted team these last few years to build an iconic brand backed by innovative technology, superior design, and world-class service,” explained Khosla Ventures partner Samir Kaul. “It’s clear that the transportation market is in dire need of a company who can rethink last-mile transportation and light electric vehicles from the ground up – the way Tesla did in electric cars, and Apple has done repeatedly in computers, smartphones, and media. From day one, Boosted has been built as a scalable light electric vehicle company that can expand its portfolio to all kinds of vehicle form factors, including perfecting the vehicle types we see on the street today, and introducing others that are more novel. We’re very much looking forward to 2019 and sharing what is coming next.”
