🏢 🚙 🤖 Issue #29: Uber spreads it wings, telecommuting and outer space

Uber doubles down on LEVs - The ride-sharing company is continuing to double down on light-electric vehicle modes. In an interesting case study; the disruptor looks to continue to disrupt it’s own business model, as new products in part cannabalise some existing ride sharing revenues. The company just launched a number of new initiatives such as charging stations for its e-bikes (Jump), a new $10m sustainable mobility fund and a partnership with SharedStreets, a commons for mobility data. Uber/Jump is also launching 250 Ninebot e-scooters in Santa Monica, where they’ll be competing with Bird and Lime. These steps in expanding their physical hardware presence will likely have them encounter the same supply-chain issues that many U.S LEV operators have, where new unit fulfilment issues are being caused by demand and wear. This week, Uber announced that it has setup an office in China in order to streamline the production and delivery of bikes.

As more cash-rich companies are fighting to secure local government buy-in and ultimately acquire customers, a battle for data is also taking place. As the amount of TNCs and available data increases - we’re seeing a slew of new products being built at the software layer. This week Coord launched it’s Shared Vehicles API, which allows developers to search for availability of bikes and scooters, across 85 different TNCs. One issue which has been a headwind to the mobility industry has been the lack of standardization across all transport modes, be they scooters, bikes, docked, undocked or electric. One organisation which is looking to solve this problem is SharedStreets, which is looking to act as a digital commons for city-level transportation data. This week the non-profit announced partnerships with Uber, Lyft and Ford.

Are Americans still going to work? There’s recently been a flip, 2017 was the first time in which more Americans regularly worked from home instead of commuted to work.

How Urban is the World? This piece explores the varying definitions of ‘urbanisation’ - most estimates show that around 50% to 55% of the worlds population live in urban areas, though estimates claim as much as 85%

Space: the next frontier - This great piece looks at the emerging space economy, and why this industry is now getting the attention of talent and investors alike

Luxury new-builds in the US - data shows that 87% of all new large-scale developments in H1 2018 were luxury rentals

Amazon is already a bank - CBInsights looks at which elements of the financial services stack Amazon has already built

Lyft expands its ‘ditch your car’ scheme - the company is taking its program to 35 new cities. Lyft gives participants $550 in Lyft credits in order to not use their car for a month. This scheme aligns closely with Lyft’s mission to eradicate car ownership

Outdoor advertising is growing - in a digital-first world, outdoor advertising is seeing strong growth predominantly due to rising online ad costs, DTC brands and increased outdoor advertising analytics

Tesla’s parked car mystery - Tesla is having issues with delivery of its cars. If only they could drive themselves to customers ;)

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a16z: New Upstarts in an Old Industry - Micheal Ovitz is interviewed by a16z about the comparables of the Hollywood representation business and venture capital

Recode: Interviews with Square CFO and Instacart CEO: Jason Del Rey interviews both execs about changes in commerce, retail and grocery.

Thanks for reading!

Sam