The motorized scooter business is in high gear - at the same time that other scooter sharing businesses like Bird have fallen upon hard times, as consumers appear to be picking a favorite mode of solo transit in the pandemic.
Revel can be crowned the winner, at least for 2020.
People quickly came around to the idea of using a scooter to get around safely in a pandemic - and the police had to require the app to curtail services during New York City's police brutality protests because it was so popular.
So far, in June alone, Revel ($PRIVATE:GOREVEL) Apple Store ratings have soared more than ten-fold, as more people are depending on the app and its bikes to get around. Revel currently has a 4.7 in the App Store and 4.5 in the Google Play Store.
Revel engagement is also being driven by its push to hook healthcare workers up with free rides as a thank-you for their work in the pandemic.
Our chart above tracks Twitter following of Revel - and at just about the exact same time it saw ratings submitted into the Apple store shoot up, so did its social media following, jumping 38% this month alone.
Part of what's driving rising engagement with Revel is clearly the expansion in services it has pursued into new jurisdictions - in the last 12 months, Washington D.C., Oakland, Miami and Austin, to name just a few.
It's something alternative data - particularly Twitter follower counts - have reflected in the past; as more state legislatures gave online gambling the green light in 2019, DraftKings saw notable upticks in following on social media.
Backed by investors including Toyota's investment arm, Blue Collective and Launch Capital, Revel has been rolling from a growth perspective - coming at a time when other disruptors are shedding staff and seeing engagement slump. Year-over-year, Revel headcount is up an astounding 377%, and the chart above tracks rising LinkedIn Employee Count for this year, as well.
And, for as long as consumers keep falling over themselves to hop on motorized scooters, and as Revel keeps expanding to new cities, it's likely each of these charts will keep reflecting growth. The long-term issue is whether Revel can avoid the same fate that other digital scooter rental disruptor apps suffered.
This story has been updated to reflect more accurate data.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
