Korea’s shared personal mobility service providers saw improved 2022 earnings

GBike Co.‘s GCOO [Photo provided by GBike]

Korean companies offering personal mobility sharing services, such as electric kickboards and one-wheel scooters, saw their sales increase last year, according to a data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

GBike Co., which operates its personal mobility sharing service platform GCOO, posted improved earnings last year based on its operational capabilities. GBike, a leader in the industry with a domestic market share of about 20 percent based on Mobile index, recorded 52.2 billion won ($40.3 million) in sales last year. This is an increase of about 55 percent from 33.5 billion won in 2021. The company also saw its operating profit climb to 8.2 billion won last year from 200 million won in 2021, recording an operating profit margin of 15.71 percent. Based on these achievements, GBike succeeded in raising a pre-Series C funding in February.

The Swing, operator of shared scooter and kickboard services, more than doubled its sales to 47 billion won last year from 20.8 billion won in 2021. Its operating profit rose to 2.7 billion won from 1.5 billion won. The company also raised the number of electric kickboards to more than 80,000 units at the end of last year from 40,000 units at the beginning of that year.

XingXing [Photo provided by PUMP]

PUMP, which operates XingXing, a shared kickboard service, posed 11.7 billion won in sales in 2022, up a mere 500 million won from a year earlier, but reduced its operating loss to 1.1 billion won last year from 7.4 billion won in 2021. PUMP swung to a profit in the second half of last year through the efficient management of XingXing.

Beam Mobility, another shared personal mobility company, saw its sales increase slightly to 17 billion won in 2022 from 15.8 billion won in 2021. Its operating loss widened, however, due to investments for a long-term growth, according to the company.

A number of shared personal mobility companies, including Lime, the world’s largest shared electric vehicle company, and Neuron Mobility, have closed down or withdrawn from the Korean market due to various regulations over the past two years. After the Road Traffic Act was revised in May 2021, local governments, including the Seoul metropolitan government, started to strengthen crackdowns on personal mobility users who do not wear safety helmets and drive without a valid license while implementing towing systems.

Shared personal mobility companies are aiming to expand their presence into new businesses in preparation for a slowing growth in shared electric kickboard service while increasing the number of units in operation. However, some point out that they need to pay attention to a legal system surrounding the industry, which is still a work in progress. In order to enhance safe driving, some raised the need to introduce a kickboard-only license, not a motorcycle or car license.