20 Things You Didn’t Know About Gogoro
Gogoro is a Taiwanese startup that specializes in the production of electric scooters. It is also a provider of battery swapping systems. The business has recently made business news with its infusion of investor funding, along with plans to take the company public. It’s big news for the short-distance transportation provider. This is a company to keep your eye on if you’re an investor interested in diversifying your investment portfolio. If you’ve not yet heard of this new company, here are twenty things you probably didn’t know about Gogoro to bring you up to speed on what the company is, what it does, and how well it’s performing.
1. Gogoro is an established business
According to Crunchbase, Gogoro has been in operation for a while It was founded in 2011 with its headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan. The company is a decade old and has continued to grow and thrive for the past ten years. It is an electric scooter manufacturer.
2. Gogoro is listed across five industries
Gogoro is a versatile company that qualifies for listing under five major industries. It is an automotive manufacturer with a specialization in electric vehicles. It also falls under the definition of a transportation company that deals with energy, and energy efficiency. The mission of Gogoro is to put affordable and clean transportation sources into the hands of more people. The vision for the future is to be a part of the movement to transform the megacities of the world into smart cities.
3. Gogoro is good for the environment
Electric-powered scooters are better for the environment. They do not leave a legacy of carbon emissions that contribute to the current greenhouse effect that is creating environmental chaos in the world. By distributing fleets of electric-powered vehicles that are easy for consumers to access, Gogoro is helping to reduce the number of petrol-powered vehicles needed for public and private transportation. It’s their way of helping to conserve resources with a sustainable electric and battery-powered mode of transportation that can either be purchased or rented for urban use.
4. Gogoro uses a complex array of technologies
The Gogoro website actively uses a total of 67 technologies to power its website. It’s a complicated mix of different technologies that are required for users to enjoy a smooth and seamless experience when using the website. These technologies are distributed across 32 technology products and services. Some of them include Viewport Meta, iPhone Mobile Compatible, LetsEncrypt, Google Analytics, HTML5, jQuery, and several others.
5. Gogoro stands out from its competition
Gogoro is a unique EV manufacturer that stands out from the dozens of other leading EV manufacturers in the world today. The company can maintain its uniqueness because it has secured the registration of a high volume of patents and trademarks. Gogoro has 169 registered patents in the vehicles in the general category. Additionally, it has secured 23 registered trademarks in the vehicle’s class. The high volume of trademarked and patented intellectual property gives Gogoro sole rights to use the designs and content for its products. No other company can legally copy or imitate Gogoro’s protected properties. This is what helps it to maintain its uniqueness and to secure a cutting edge within its niche in the EV industry.
6. Gogoro has a high volume of web traffic
The analytics report for Gogoro shows that the past thirty days have seen a high volume of web traffic. This suggests that there is also high interest in the products and services that the company offers. the total number of monthly visits for the last thirty days was 1,472,751. This has resulted in Gogoro receiving a ranking of number 33,310 of the millions of websites registered on the world wide web.
7. Gogoro is the most popular in Taiwan
The highest percentage of visitors to the Gogoro website are from the country of Taiwan. Ninety-eight percent of web traffic originates from this country. One percent of the visitors are from the United States with a 3.94 percent increase in the monthly visits growth from this country. Less than one percent of the web traffic is from visitors from China, The Netherlands, and Thailand.
8. Gogoro has a small executive leadership team
The core executive leadership team at Gogoro is small. Horace Luke is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Gogoro. Grace Lei is the chief operating officer. Matt Taylor is the founder and chief technology officer. Although the team is small, they are dynamic leaders who are supported by a larger number of executives and managers who help them to achieve the goals for Gogoro. Other members include David Yu, the chief internal auditor, Ming-I Peng, chief product officer, Walter Wang, the chief designer, Jason Gordon, vice president of communications, Jeff Kuo, vice president, Samuel Webster, senior vice president, Alan Tsao, director of the customer service, Allen Huang, director of information technology, Antony Wang, senior director, and several others.
9. Gogoro was a venture capital-backed company
Gogoro began its operations as a venture capital-supported company. It participated in four rounds of venture capital funding with the latest round of Series C funding concluding on September 20, 2017. It raised a total of $80 million from investors. The company is backed by a total of 9 investors. Investors are Temasek Holdings, General Investment Management, Sumitomo Corporation, Engie, National Development Fund of Taiwan Government, Panasonic, Samuel Yin, a lead investor, HTC, Cher Wang, and other anonymous investors.
10. Gogoro is still a VC enterprise
As of September 22, 2021, Gogoro is still a privately held company. This is likely to change shortly though. According to Techcrunch, Gogoro is making plans to file for an initial public offering. This will take the company into the public arena where shares of stock will be available or purchase sale and trading. We recently read the news that Gogoro is entering into a SPAC deal that will establish it as a publicly-traded company.
11. Gogoro is an emerging unicorn
Taiwan News reports that Gogoro has plans to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. It’s entering into a merger with a special acquisition company called Poema Global Holdings Corp. The announcement was made on September 16, 2021. Horace Luke explained that when the deal goes through, Gogoro will emerge with a valuation of $2.35 billion. this is two and a half times the required $1 billion to qualify for unicorn status.
12. Plans are already in place for IPO funds
We also learned that Gogoro has already made plans for the funds that will be raised in its IPO. The company is going to put the proceeds into its research and development department to fund this essential branch. Some of the money will be used to finance global operations and regional expansion. The merger is set to take place at some time in the early part of the year 2022. No exact date has been confirmed at this time. It will be listed under the Nasdaq ticker symbol GGR.
13. Gogoro operates two branches
According to Wikipedia, Gogoro does two major things. It manufactures electric smart scooters, and it provides a battery-swapping refueling program. Although these two are related, they are quite different. The company developed its battery-swapping program with partners to create a network of locations that makes it easy for scooter riders to recharge their vehicles for extended mileage capacity as needed. It also has its line of smart scooters.
14. Gogoro helps other automotive companies
Gogoro is in business to make money, and it does so through the sale of its Smart scooters, but it also earns revenue through the battery swapping network. A third income stream comes from partnerships that it has formed with other automotive companies. Gogoro has partnered with eMOVING, eReady, PGO, Aeonmotor, Yamaha, Hero, and several other organizations. Although Gogoro profits from these partners, it’s also providing them with useful technology, no doubt from among its various patented innovations.
15. Gogoro has three scooter models
Gogoro introduced its first smart scooter model in 2015. They call it the Gogoro 1 Smartscooter. It is an electric scooter that is made for urban transportation. Gogoro developed the electric motor that powers the scooter. It’s made of G1 Aluminum with liquid cooling and a permanent magnet synchronous motor design. It runs on Panasonic lithium-ion batteries that are swappable. The company has also released the Gogoro 2 Smartscooter in 2017, followed by the Gogoro Via in September of 2019. The latter is a smaller electric scooter for consumers who prefer a smaller vehicle for urban travel.
16. Gogoro has forged strategic partnerships for transportation services
Gogoro has struck agreements with several organizations to provide a network of transportation fleets and battery-swapping networks. It recently sealed a deal with Hero MotoCorp to rollout the Gogoro Network battery swapping service in the country of India. It’s working with Coup Mobility GmbH in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Cologne. It’s also working with Ride Go Share of Okinawa, Japan to provide an electric scooter sharing service. It partnered with Panasonic to develop its battery cells, and Gogoro gets its performance tires from Maxxis. These partnerships are essential for the continued success of Gogoro as it plans to become a leader in electric scooter transportation options. It’s set to be a disruptor in the EV scooter industry.
17. Gogoro is an award-winning company
Gogoro has received its share of public recognition and accolades. The company became the recipient of the “2020 Global Company of the Year Award.” The event occurred in December of 2020. It was presented by the analyst firm Frost & Sullivan as a formal recognition of Gogoro’s innovative Swappable Battery Electric Scooter operation. Gogoro has earned a place of distinction because of the significant contributions that it is making to the advancement of electric-powered vehicles. This is coming at a time when the health of the environment is fragile and in need of swift effort to reduce pollution in the air and on the earth.
18. Gogoro has a large workforce
According to LinkedIn, there are currently 839 people employed at Gogoro. Although there were indications made that the company is planning to grow and expand its operation, there are not yet many new jobs available. There are currently just 2 job openings posted for the company. They’re hiring in Taiwan for a partner solutions manager and an energy firmware engineer. Even though there are not currently many job openings, Gogoro is a major employer in the Taipei City community, and they’ve put nearly a thousand people to work. The company is a vital part of the economy for this region.
19. Gogoro is amassing subscribers
According to Taiwan News, the new battery-swapping platform that Gogoro established is attracting a large following of fans and subscribers. The stations are powered by the Gogoro Network. There are 2,101 charging stations at strategic locations throughout Taiwan. Gogoro has plans to add 85 to this number shortly. So far, over 400,000 people have subscribed to the battery-swapping platform.
20. Gogoro is a company to keep your eye on
Gogoro is still a privately held company that is supported through venture capital funding. Early in the year 2022, this is set to change. It will go public and be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GGR. Gogoro is riding the wave of the future and is expanding its operation from the base in Taiwan, into other parts of the world. This is an up-and-coming company that is making exceptional progress in growing and expanding its operation. Keep an eye out for its IPO scheduled to happen sometime in the first quarter of 2022.