Why Blackbird invested in Raine

About Blackbird

Blackbird is a venture capital fund that invests in every type of technology from software to space, unified by the biggest of ambitions.

• Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
• 51-100
• Venture Capital
• Early Stage Venture, Late Stage Venture, Seed, Venture
• www.blackbird.vc

About Raine

Raine Scooters operates as an electric scooter company.

• Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• 1-10
• Equity Crowdfunding
• Private
• raine.co/

Our Investment in Raine

We’re thrilled to have joined the seed round for Raine, a Melbourne-based startup that makes the world’s smartest, safest and most exhilarating scooter.

Electric scooters are everywhere, and for good reason. People want to get around cities but streets are congested, taxis and Ubers are expensive, and not everyone can be bothered cycling. But many of the electric scooters on the market are poor quality, lasting on average less than a month.

Inspired by companies like LIFX and Nura, Raine sells scooters directly to people who want to own their own, with a focus on creativity and craftsmanship.

Origin

The creation of Raine brought together three product leaders –  Marc Alexander, co-founder and CTO of smart light-bulb company LIFX and Blackbird portfolio adviser, James Murphy, co-founder and Design Engineer of electric offroad skateboard company BajaBoard, and Michelle Mannering, startup community builder.

While electric scooters have surged in demand recently, Marc had been frustrated with the low quality of the new scooters in the market. After they dreamed of the Raine scooter for years, Marc joined forces with James and Michelle to bring the quality and creativity of companies like LIFX and Nura to an electric scooter product.

To do that, Raine infuses LED lighting, ingrained software and connectivity to improve the customer experience and brings longevity through automotive engineering.

More Than A Product

Raine sells its scooters directly to end users to own outright, initially through a crowdfunding campaign and their own website. Marc has overseen some amazing Kickstarter campaigns, and Raine made Kickstarter history when they met their crowdfunding goal in under 43 minutes.

Longer term, Raine plans to make the product accessible to a broader market, potentially through a subscription model. They also hope to develop a premium product with a dual motor, and a smaller version of the original product. Scooters as a market started with kids, and moved to adults – Raine eventually wants to bring an electric powered product back to this original market.

The Raine co-founders see everything as a software experience. Raine scooters have built-in software that allows the company to access key insights into the performance and longevity of their products, in turn helping to develop better products.

Conclusion

We’ve seen how Marc, James and Michelle work and we know they can create and manufacture incredibly high-quality products. We’re excited to join them as they bring their creativity and craftsmanship to offer a better option for the electric scooter market.

Find out more about Raine’s electric scooters through the website and follow their updates on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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