Why We’re Investing in Mount
We’ve profiled hundreds of startups to date here at Storied. After two years of building to get to this point, we’re leading our first deal — and you can invest as little as $100 alongside us.
Here’s why we’re investing in Mount.
The Problem, Why Now?
Mount was built out of converging trends in micro-mobility and short-term property rentals (like Airbnb).
Micro-mobility: Large scale scooter models (such as Lime and Bird) gobble up cash — 90% of revenue goes into warehouse rent, government regulations, gig-economy employees and charging infrastructure. Meanwhile, tourists, as opposed to locals, represent the majority of their revenue. And anyone that’s been in a city with publicly available scooters knows how poorly the scooter inventory gets treated.
2. Short-term rental industry: While the hospitality industry was hit hard by COVID overall, short-term rentals have been the best-performing travel segment during the pandemic, a trend that is expected to continue. Meanwhile, about 99% of short-term rental revenue is coming from bookings, while rental optimization/occupancy is only averaging around 45%. Hosts are looking for ways to generate more revenue from their properties.
What The Company Does
Mount is bridging these two markets together. Micro-mobility desperately needs private property, while Airbnb hosts have both the space for the scooters and the target users. The rental property becomes a home for the scooter where rides begin and end. This drastically reduces overhead costs associated with the traditional scooter model, while hosts gain a new revenue stream and can increase bookings when they offer a new amenity.
Business Model
Airbnb hosts and managers (depending on size and number of properties) are equipped with scooters, helmets, locks, insurance and an app control system.
Here’s how the economics works at a high level:
Traction
Mount is live in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Denver and Miami. There’s currently a wait list of over 100 properties and 500 scooters — too much demand to keep up with, which is where most of the capital from this round is going. This represents $1.5m+ in potential revenue from purchase requests and pre-orders.
The Market
There are roughly 7 million properties listed on Airbnb run by either property managers or hosts. Airbnb’s marketplace connected around 500 million travelers per year.
There’s a clear demand from short-term rental hosts and operators.
The Team
We love the team. CEO Madi Rifkin has been involved in micro-mobility for the last 3 years learning from executives at Lime, Bird, Jump, and Spin. She secured her first patent at age 15! Mount’s COO, Matt Langham, oversaw a 500 unit bike fleet in Denver.
How You Can Invest
Check out Mount’s WeFunder page to invest with us. Mount is raising at a $6 million valuation cap, but there’s an “early bird” discount available to the first investors with a valuation cap of $5.5 million.
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