Following the launch of the 4th edition of the European Startup Prize for mobility last September in Tallinn, and more than 563 applications received, we can finally reveal the names of the 10 mobility gems selected this year!
As a reminder, this leading public-private initiative, first launched in 2017 by Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism, and co-founded by Via ID and the Boston Consulting Group, aims to reveal and support the best startups developing sustainable mobility innovations in Europe.
After many weeks of analysis – helped by our 60 independent evaluators, experts in mobility in Europe – we were able to draw up a ranking of the 50 most promising startups as a first step.
What is Via ID’s role in the European Startup Prize for mobility?
As a co-founder of the prize, Via ID puts its expertise at the service of the prize to :
- define the selection criteria
- coordinate the selection process
- evaluate the hundreds of candidate startups.
Each application has been examined by a minimum of 3 experts on the basis of the following criteria
- Business model: Innovation, market, execution, team.
- Impact: Environmental and climate impact, social and territorial inclusion.
- Reach at the European level
Who are the 10 winning startups of this 4th edition?
For several weeks, these 50 startups were interviewed live by a jury of a dozen experts to decide between them.
Congratulations to these 10 gems of European mobility!
| Startup | Country | Category | Elevator’s pitch |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  | Shared mobility | BAQME offers a platform for shared electric cargo bikes, on a mission to reduce short distance car trips in cities. They currently operate with a fleet of >200 bikes in 2 cities in the Netherlands. |
 |  | Clean Energy & e-mobility | Bia Power proposes a smart electric vehicle charging platform, featuring forecasting algorithms and an optimization engine to manage, predict, and optimize EV charging. |
 | | Shared mobility | GO Sharing offers 100% electric shared transport all via one app. E-scooters, e-bikes and e-cars are all available to reduce private owned transport and make more sustainable transport accessible. |
 |  | Autonomous vehicles & systems | Heex enables the next generation of AI companies to get to the data that they need and deliver on the promise of ground-breaking innovations. |
 | | Clean Energy & e-mobility | Nowos supports the circular economy by repairing lithium batteries, reusing and recycling the raw material. |
 |  | Autonomous vehicles & systems | OTIV offers assistance and autonomous systems for rail vehicles in complex urban/industrial environments. They disrupt the industry by upgrading existing fleets with smart sensors and algorithms. |
 |  | Micromobility | Revolve-wheel build REVOLVE AIR, a revolutionary foldable active wheelchair that saves up to 60% of its space when both frame and unique 24 inches foldable wheels are folded. |
 |  | Clean Energy & e-mobility | Storkjet produces a software for the aviation industry, which helps airlines save 4% of fuel and reduces CO2 emissions. |
 | | Connected vehicles & data | Vianova uses connected vehicles data to help cities and mobility operators build more efficient and sustainable transport systems for people and goods. |
 | | Long-distance logistics & last mile delivery | ZELEROS HYPERLOOP leads the development of a scalable hyperloop, a new transport system to connect cities and logistics hubs at 1000km/h, 0 direct emissions and high energy efficiency. |
What are the next steps?
Meet these 10 startups at the official award ceremony that will take place with our VIP jury during the ChangeNow Summit on May 19th in Paris. This ceremony, under the auspices of the French Presidency of the European Union, will allow us to put the spotlight on these promising startups and to reward 4 grand prize winners who will benefit from BCG coaching.
During this ceremony, our partners will present 10 special prizes:
- Accessibility and inclusive mobility
- Electromobility
- Scale-ups
- Space tech
- Future of skies
- Blue mobility
- Rail mobility
- Urban experiences and services
- Smart city
- Logistics and freight
The 10 winning startups will also have the chance to participate in presentation sessions in front of a panel of European public and private investors: the European Investment Bank and EIT InnoEnergy, as well as in mobility trade shows, including Vivatechnology (Paris, June 2022) and Electronomous (Copenhagen, October 2022).
What changes have we noticed since the previous editions?
The jury selected startups covering a wide range of topics: shared mobility, micro mobility, long and medium distance, autonomous vehicles, energy transition and data.
The boom in startups related to the energy transition
It is clear that topics related to electric vehicles and their recharging solutions, battery optimization, battery repair, and alternative energies are experiencing a very strong increase in the 4th edition. This year, 20% of the startup candidates were related to these themes, and this is reflected in the TOP10 where 3 of the winning startups are in the Clean energy category: Nowos, Bia Power, Storkjet.
These startups are developing where new needs are emerging and where innovations can solve pain points.
Shared mobility is still a hot topic as it represents 28% of the startups that applied, and 2 of our winners are on this theme: Baqme and Go Sharing. They respond to a need that users have to decarbonize their trips, whether by using shared cargo bikes or a fleet of electric vehicles (bike, electric scooter, electric car).
In 2021, the European Year of the Rail has brought to light many innovations in rail solutions. These rail-related topics are also on the rise this year (9% of applications) and we find 2 of these startups in our TOP10 with OTIV and Zeleros Hyperloop.
Data also remains a very important subject in the world of mobility, as shown by two of our winners, Vianova and Heex.
A changing representation of countries
This year we notice a growing representation of the Netherlands, which is also reflected in our TOP10 with the startups Baqme, Nowos and Go Sharing.
As a reminder, the 10 most represented countries in the call for applications of this 4th edition are :
- France,
- Spain,
- Italy,
- Germany,
- Netherlands,
- Israel,
- United Kingdom,
- Belgium,
- Sweden,
- Estonia.
More early stage startups
This 4th edition is distinguished by an over-representation of early stage startups. Many startups were created during the Covid-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021. It is interesting to see that a large number of these “Covid babies” are responding to the challenges of energy transitions and new, more sustainable and shared mobility practices.
As a result, disparities between early stage startups and more mature ones (team size, level of funding, technical development) are more pronounced.
France and the Netherlands are the two countries with the most startups in the “Stable and Industrialized” product development phase (47% each).
Smaller teams
The size of the teams has significantly decreased compared to the previous edition as we have an average of 12 employees per startup vs. 30 in 2020 (based on all eligible startups). On the other hand, we have an average of 25 collaborators in our TOP10.
More women co-founders
The number of women in the founding team or in the management team has increased to 30%. A statistic that we find among the TOP10 since Baqme, Nowos and Bia Power have women co-founders!
Accessible mobility for all
This 4th edition does not forget the topics related to accessibility and rewards the German startup Revolve Wheel which proposes a foldable wheelchair, ultra compact.
The diversity of the themes and the maturity of the projects make this 4th edition of the European Startup Prize for mobility a strong indicator of the dynamism of the mobility market in Europe. As co-founder of the prize and leader of the selection of startups, we are pleased to contribute to the revolution of the mobility ecosystem in Europe, which will create the European leaders of tomorrow.