BY ISHAK SEVGIN
United Arab Emirates based e-scooter company FENIX, backed by Israeli venture capital funding, has acquired the micro mobility company PALM for USD 5m (around TRY 43m), as the start-up expands across the Middle East into its fifth country. “Dubai, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, in March 2019 banned companies renting out e-scooters while it develops regulations, and Turkey in April enacted e-scooter regulations, which encouraged the PALM acquisition,” said Jaideep Dhanoa, Co-Founder and CEO of FENIX. The start-up also plans to develop advanced software and hardware technologies and set up an R&D center in Istanbul to export to the Middle East. “Thousands of users took over 700,000 journeys with Palm in two years. Our dream has always been to carry Palm abroad,” said Berhan Goksin, CoFounder and CEO of Palm. With almost 10,000 e-scooters in 13 cities, FENIX has the largest fleet in the Middle East and North Africa.
