AppWorks Backs WeMo Again: Before Expanding Overseas, Has It Found a Profitable Model?

AppWorks really does support WeMo. June 17, 2020 WeMo Scooter completed a Series A led by AppWorks, raising at least NT$100 million. This was AppWorks’ first smart-mobility startup investment in Taiwan. After the round, WeMo Scooter would deepen its Taiwan presence while beginning overseas expansion, replicating its experience operating a connected electric-scooter platform economy internationally and accelerating Taiwanese companies’ participation in global smart-city hardware and software supply chains. It would immediately launch a connected-vehicle R&D center and expand recruitment to develop more than one hundred connected-vehicle hardware and software professionals. ---- February 2, 2023 WeMo received another investment of several million US dollars from AppWorks. It planned to accelerate Southeast Asian expansion and initiate more international partnerships. ---- I am a WeMo user myself, and I rather like the founder’s ideas and beliefs. But if WeMo enters Southeast Asia, what competitive or cooperative relationships will it have with local giants such as Grab and GoTo? There are also questions about the capital required, target customers, service pricing, and business model. More importantly, has WeMo, founded in 2016, already found a profitable model in Taiwan that it can export? Or is it still losing money and exploring the model at home while preparing to burn cash competing abroad? If it burns the candle at both ends and divides its attention, I worry that those several million US dollars will soon be gone again.