Taiwanese electric scooter startup, Gogoro, is a young startup targeting the smog-choked streets of Southeast Asia in its quest to expand its business overseas. Backed by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Gogoro develops and sells electric scooters and battery swapping infrastructure. In September 2017, Gogoro secured a $300 million Series C round of investment from Singapore’s Temasek, Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation, and French utility Engie and Generation Investment Management, a company co-founded by Al Gore. To date, the company has raised $480 million to date. The total investment raised puts Gogoro’s valuation at around $800 million.

Founded in 2011 by Horace Luke and Matt Taylor, Gogoro is an electric scooter maker with a mission. The company plans to deliver consumer innovations that will improve how the world’s most populated cities distribute and utilize energy, the company is enabling the transformation of megacities into smart cities. Gogoro is working toward a better future by putting power in the hands of everyone – to move us all forward, faster. “We’re planning our next big city move,” Luke told Bloomberg. “We have lots of cities to choose from. We’re finalizing which one right now.” Gogoro rolled out its first consumer product, Smartscooter, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2015. In addition to Smartscooter, Gogoro also unveiled a battery-swapping network under the name Gogoro Energy Network in March 2015. The company’s plan is to cover cities with scooters and battery-swapping kiosks.”

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