Urent was launched at the end of 2018 by entrepreneur Andrei Kolesnik. Initially, the Urent service allowed renting electric scooters in Krasnodar, Sochi, Adler, Anapa and the Rosa Khutor resort.
Urent is one of the most popular and affordable kicksharing services in Russia.
In April 2022, the service will be available in more than 50 cities of Russia. The cost of renting Jurent scooters starts at 4 rubles per minute (+ 50 rubles for activating the scooter). You can rent Jurent scooters in the Jurent app for iOS or Android. In addition, a subscription for a month is available to the user (149 rubles at the start of the season), which resets the cost of unlocking the scooter and allows you to pay only for minutes of the trip. The speed of the service scooters is technically limited to 25 km/h for safe movement. In places with increased pedestrian traffic, the so-called "slow zones" operate, where the speed at the hardware level is limited to 15 km/h (data as of April 20, 2022).
Performance indicators
2020: Revenue - 800 million rubles
URent's revenue in 2020 amounted to 800 million rubles against 88.1 million rubles a year earlier.
History
2024
Purchase of electric scooter developer Eleven
MTS Jurent acquired the Belarusian developer of electric scooters and software for them Eleven. This was announced on December 11, 2024. Read more here.
MTS Jurent presented a kargobike developed in Russia for couriers, which does not allow them to drive at high speed
MTS Jurent on August 15, 2024 presented its own kargobike for courier delivery. The device was called "Jurent Kubo," it was developed by MTS Jurent in cooperation with Eleven, which has been developing solutions in the field of micromobile transport for more than four years. Read more here.
Launch of rental scooters through the Tinkoff application
Tinkoff on June 4, 2024 announced the launch of the "Scooters" service - the corresponding section appeared in the mobile application. The first partner was the kicksharing company Jurent. In the future, Tinkoff plans to expand the number of partners. Read more here.
Acquisition of LLC "ЮрентБайк.ру" by MTS
MTS closed the transaction on the acquisition of ЮрентБайк.ру LLC (Yurent service). This was reported by MTS representatives to TAdviser on January 15, 2024. As a result of the transaction, MTS increased its stake in Jurent from 11.77% to 80.58%, having bought out shares from the founders of the company, and intends to fully integrate the company into its own ecosystem. The financial terms of the transaction are not specified.
According to the terms of the agreement, the Yurent team under the leadership of the company's general director Ivan Touringe will continue to manage the project, key shareholders will continue to participate in the company's work for business development in accordance with the approved strategy. The total amount of payments to sellers will be determined by the company's results in 2024-2025.
Yurent is the second operator of individual mobility equipment in Russia by revenue and fleet size, manages a fleet of about 100 thousand electric scooters in 124 cities of the Russian Federation according to its own and partner model. At the same time, the company is the leader in Russia in the number of cities of presence, representatives of MTS noted.
In March 2022, MTS made its first investment in the capital of ЮрентБайк.ру LLC, taking part in the Jurent round to attract investments as a lead investor.
 | "Means of individual mobility are rapidly gaining popularity in Russia. According to our forecasts, by 2027 the market for kicksharing and other types of micromobility in the country may almost triple to 60 billion rubles. We see strong results following the inclusion of Yurent in the MTS Premium subscription and intend to bring the company to a new level, strengthening synergy with the MTS ecosystem, "said Maxim Laptev, head of the MTS digital product block. |  |
According to him, in 2024 MTS plans to increase the fleet to 150 thousand scooters and present a number of new solutions in the field of urban mobility.
For his part, Yurent CEO Ivan Touringe noted that cooperation with MTS for almost two years has allowed Yurent to multiply the number of users and make electric scooters part of the daily transport scenario of millions of Russians in more than 120 cities.
| | "By 2030, at least two-thirds of economically active residents of Russia will become regular users of micromobility. Synergy with the products of the MTS ecosystem will give them access to new services and qualitatively improve their user experience, which, in turn, will help us strengthen our position in the field of urban mobility, "added Ivan Touringe. | |
In early March 2024, the cost of buying a share of Yurent by MTS became known. According to Interfax, citing the annual report of MTS, in January 2024, the telecom operator paid 4.6 billion rubles as part of the acquisition of 68.8% of the scooter rental service. MTS will have to transfer another 400 million rubles by January 2025. Prior to that, the telecom company owned 11.78% of Yurent - MTS paid 740 million rubles for this share.
2022
Starting scooters with autopilot
On August 16, 2022, Jurent announced the start of using electric scooters with autopilot. The company considers the new technology promising because it can help prevent unsafe driving.
A self-driving scooter can independently recognize obstacles to prevent collisions. It is equipped with semi-automatic autopilot mode. It can be remotely controlled to move it to the right place - for example, to a parking lot or to a scooter service point to replace the battery.
The scooter also recognizes obstacles using a wide-angle camera and artificial intelligence. So, he sees people, vehicles and road markings and can independently respond to them to prevent an emergency. Before the obstacle, the scooter slows down itself.
By August 16, 2022, Jurent offers five autopilot electric scooters. If the pilot project is successfully implemented, the kicksharing service expects to launch such electric scooters into mass operation.
| | We are constantly testing new technologies to improve travel safety. We were among the first to introduce 'slow zones' to limit scooter speed in places with increased pedestrian traffic. Computer vision technologies for analyzing the urban environment can make this process autonomous - so that the scooter itself slows down speed where necessary, or prevents possible collisions. This will help make kicksharing even safer. And autopilot will help make scooter maintenance in the city more convenient and economically more profitable. The technology we are testing is still at an early stage, but in the future it will help prevent unsafe driving, the press service of the service said.[1] | |
Adding 2GIS Jurent scooters to the map
On June 2, 2022, it became known that mobile application "" 2GIS now shows on the maps Russian cities scooters of the Jurent service - you can build a route to any of them to book and start a trip. More. here
Attracting 2.09 billion rubles
The Russian scooter rental service Urent attracted 2.09 billion rubles to double the park and expand in the Russian Federation. In addition, with the funds received, it is planned to open new service centers, improve security and develop B2B products, such as a service for courier services. This was announced on February 21, 2022.
Most of all in the framework of the investment transaction startup invested - MTS 740 million rubles. The direct investment fund VPE Capital invested 700 million rubles, the venture VEB Ventures capital fund of the group "" - ВЭБ.РФ 650 million rubles.
Under the terms of the deal, MTS will include kicksharing in the ecosystem of its services, conduct scooter branding and develop a DVR controller for Urent. Also, companies will begin to cooperate in the development of equipment, the Internet of Things and Big Data to improve travel security.
According to the co-founder of Urent Andrei Azarov, whose words are given in the press release, taking into account the planned attraction of additional debt financing (in the form of leasing and loans), the volume of investments in the company by the beginning of the 2022 season will exceed 3 billion rubles. At the same time, the estimated cost of the startup was not disclosed.
According to Oleg Teplov, CEO of VEB Ventures, which he announced in February 2022, Urent occupies about 30% of the Russian kicksharing market, last year users of the service made more than 15 million trips, which is four times more than the level of 2020. He expects that in the coming years the company's revenue growth rate will be higher than the market average.
| | Kicksharing services are gradually turning into a full-fledged "last mile" transport. Scooters become especially competitive for public and personal transport when the flow rate in a traffic jam decreases to 30 km/h, says Oleg Teplov.[2] | |
2021
In 2021, Urent scooters were available in 50 cities across the country. The rental cost was 5 rubles per minute and 30 rubles for the activation of the electric scooter on each trip (prices are relevant at the end of June 2020).
Receiving compensation for damaged electric scooters in Moscow
At the end of September 2021, it became known that the hooligans who damaged 800 electric scooters in Moscow paid kicksharing services compensation in the amount of 1 million rubles. Read more here.
Attracting 1.2 billion rubles of investments
On April 7, 2021, AFK Sistema announced the investment of 200 million rubles in the URent scooter rental service. The deal was concluded through the Sistema SmartTech fund, which is part of the state corporation.
The startup intends to spend the raised funds on doubling the fleet of electric scooters - by April 2021 it has 30 thousand units of transport, and it is planned to increase this number to 60 thousand units. Also, investments will go to the technological development of the platform and the geographical expansion of the service both in Russia and in foreign countries.
| | The new round of financing will enable Urent to significantly scale its business and test new niches, which will allow the company to become a leading player in this promising market, "said Artem Sirazutdinov, member of the investment committee of the Sistema SmartTech fund. | |
According to him, the global Russian "micromobility market" is rapidly developing against the background of the interest of many regions in reducing the burden on the environment and traffic congestion. The segment was actively growing taking into account the lack of a hard lockdown in the Russian Federation in the summer of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic can also push the development of the segment in the future - against the background of the requirements for maintaining social distance, scooters began to be used as an affordable alternative to public transport, he said.
The total investment in URent reached 1.2 billion rubles. The company plans to raise another 700 million rubles in the coming months, "completing a series of negotiations," Sistema SmartTech said. Among the investors are the structures of Sberbank and Citymobil.
By April 2021, URent operates in Moscow, the Moscow region and 19 other Russian cities, but plans to increase their number to 50 by the end of the year. Daily users of the service make more than 30 thousand trips.[3]
2020
Integration with Citymobil
Citymobil taxi ordering service and URent scooter rental service announced cooperation and technical integration. This was announced on August 4, 2020 by the Citymobil company. Read more here.
Attracting 150 million rubles of investments
At the end of June 2020, URent raised 150 million rubles of investments that will be used to launch the service in Moscow and other large cities. Investors included the co-founder and general director of the Possible agency Andrei Vinograd, the creators of the Compare Taxi application Andrei Azarov and Mikhail Geisherik.
By the end of the season, the company intends to install 12 thousand scooters throughout the country and become the largest Russian player in this segment. According to Andrei Azarov, URent expects an increased demand for electric scooters amid the coronavirus pandemic, due to which the demand for individual methods of movement has increased. Azarov estimated the entire project at 570 million rubles
URent founder and managing director Andrei Kolesnik believes that URent will be in demand in Moscow and other cities amid the pandemic.
| | Traditionally, a scooter is a "last mile" transport that allows you to get to your home or office, for example, from a subway station. But in the new reality after the pandemic, micromobility services, like ours, allow you to maintain the necessary social distance, avoid movement in crowded public transport, "he stressed. | |
Experts interviewed by Kommersant see several obstacles to the development of such a business: climate, vandalism and urban infrastructure. At the same time, the demand for micromobility, at least in the short term, will grow in many countries, they note.
According to Vitaly Shushkovsky, senior manager of the consulting services department for EY transactions, taxi aggregators may also be interested in the e-scooter rental market. So, abroad Uber acts as an investor and partner of the Lime service, and Lyft invests in bicycle rental. However, the aggregators interviewed by the publication do not yet talk about subject interest in this market in Russia.[4]
Notes
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