bp ventures invests in electric ride-hailing company Freebee

bp ventures has invested USD6 million in all-electric ride-hailing business Freebee, a Miami-based  company that provides free, on-demand transportation to local communities through their mobile app  Ride Freebee. bp led the business’ USD8 million Series A funding round, with support from Freebee’s  current infrastructure capital partner, Tensile Mobility. 

To date, bp ventures, which was set up more than 10 years ago to identify and invest in private, high growth, game changing technology companies, accelerating innovation across the entire energy spectrum, has invested almost USD1 billion in more than 40 active investments across seven geographies. 

Freebee’s free-to-the-user trips are financed through local governments as part of municipalities’  public transport networks, and also by private entities such as corporate business parks, hotels and  resorts, and university campuses. Freebee has established itself as a premier mobility platform in the  state of Florida and seeks to address the many issues arising from increased use of personal vehicles  in the U.S., like traffic congestion and increased carbon emissions. 

Freebee owns a fleet of more than 150 electric vehicles and employs more than 230 drivers on a full time basis. This investment will help Freebee boost its technology development capacity and expand  the team, helping to scale the business across the U.S. The service is currently available in more than  25 municipalities and campuses in Florida and Virginia, with Freebee targeting expansion into seven new cities in the two states before the end of 2022. The expansion is expected to help the business  move more than 1 million passengers by the end of the year. 

As well as leading the funding round, bp will also work with Freebee on scaling the business across  the U.S. and will explore opportunities to collaborate on the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure,  progressing bp’s mobility growth engine. 

“bp ventures invests in companies that align with bp’s  ambition to be net zero by 2050 or sooner. The team at Freebee has come up with a brilliant business  idea that incentivizes travel by electric vehicles without any cost to the user. We are very proud to  have made our first investment in Miami’s thriving tech sector and look forward to getting started with  the team,” said Shaun Healey, principal at bp ventures. 

“Living in Miami as a student, my  co-founder Jason Spiegel and I felt there must be a more economical way of getting around the city. With Freebee we have turned ride-hailing on its head, providing a service that is accelerating the  decarbonisation of mobility and is free to users. This investment from bp ventures is an endorsement  of our idea and together we will roll Freebee out across the U.S.,” said Kris Kimball, co-founder and managing partner at Freebee.

“We are really excited at the  opportunity to partner with bp ventures, which shares many of the same values that Freebee seeks to  spread in our communities each day. Our goal is to accelerate our growth and continue executing our  mission of providing equitable and accessible transportation, which in turn helps drive economic  development and stimulates the local economies,” said Jason Spiegel, co-founder and managing partner at Freebee. 

Shaun Healey, principal at bp ventures, will join the Freebee board, along with Dabo Horsfall, CEO of  Tensile Mobility.