Will the French shared scooter start-up, Cityscoot, which operates in Paris find a buyer or be placed in liquidation? We will know a little more at the end of the afternoon: at 5 p.m., Quai de Corse, the Paris commercial court will hold a hearing where it will examine the two takeover offers. One carried by Bertrand Fleurose, founder and director of this company from 2014 to 2022. The other presented by Cooltra, another shared scooter operator also present in Paris.
If Cityscoot is at stake for its survival, it is because its two historic shareholders (the Caisse des Dépôts and the RATP) have let go of it to everyone’s surprise. While the company had just obtained the right, like two other brands, to operate its machines in the capital for five years. In fact, the Caisse des Dépôts and the RATP, which had already spent millions to keep this structurally loss-making start-up afloat, did not want to go back to completely renew its fleet and thus have rechargeable vehicles faster and more. easily.
At the end of the afternoon, Bertrand Fleurose will say why he still believes in the future of Cityscoot. “By acquiring new scooters, the company will make money,” believes the entrepreneur. These connected devices are worth three times less than when we started. And their operating costs have been halved. » As for personnel costs, they have been considerably reduced because the company has already separated itself from its army of essential developers when Cityscoot was pioneering the market in the mid-2010s.
Likewise, the operator has withdrawn from all cities (Rome, Milan, Barcelona, Nice), except Paris. As a result, the size of the team, which peaked at 320 employees, was reduced to nearly 150 people. In his project, Bertrand Fleurose would keep a little more than 90%. Initially, he would concentrate the activity on Paris. Even if he does not want to say more on the subject, he has identified the brand and model of scooters that he would buy to replace the old Cityscoot cuckoos. “My plan plans to return to balance at least in 2025, with an Ebitda of around one million,” specifies the entrepreneur. In short, everything is in place except for the crux of the matter, financing.
“My recovery plan requires four or five million euros,” specifies Bertrand Fleurose. However, for the moment, I have only found a small part of it. I am therefore going to ask the Commercial Court to give me a little more time to complete my round of discussions. » We are talking about a fortnight rather than several months. The game is far from won for the entrepreneur because it is urgent: according to our information, the start-up would lose 250,000 euros per week.
Opposite, Cooltra created in 2006, makes a diametrically opposed offer. The Spanish operator, also present in Paris, has rather a reassuring financial base: active in seven cities in Europe (Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Lisbon, etc.), the company generated an EBITDA of 7 million last year. euros for a turnover of 45 million. She offers to take over Cityscoot for 400,000 euros. It would keep only 30 employees out of the 150 who work for the French start-up.
“Today, we operate 1,500 scooters and Cityscoot 1,100,” explains Fabien Douay, France director of Cooltra. If we take over Cityscoot, we will initially take 1,100 Cityscoot machines out of the Paris market. As a result, we will reach our balance point more quickly than expected (2.2 rentals per day per machine) while we are at one rental per day. » And, if demand increases around the time of the Olympic Games this summer, Cooltra will make more vehicles available in the capital.
Furthermore, the 30 employees taken over would be part of the field teams responsible for managing the increased use of vehicles (battery recharging, redeployment of machines to strategic locations in the capital, etc.). In fact, Cooltra mainly hopes to recover Cityscoot’s customer base… and exploit its brand. “In Paris, we will keep the Cooltra scooters, which are much easier to maintain and less heavy,” explains Fabien Douay. On the other hand, we will operate them under the well-known Cityscoot brand or under the Cooltra-Cityscoot co-branding. » And if the Spaniard responds to other calls for tenders in France, he would do so under the Cityscoot brand, which has a very strong reputation for the free floating scooter service in France. The commercial court will have to decide between these two offers. He should give himself around two weeks to choose the solution that he considers best for the survival of Cityscoot.
