Helbiz sees losses in mobility revenue, slight gains in streaming

Helbiz’s third quarter earnings show a company that’s burning cash, not making revenue gains and losing riders year over year. However, Helbiz’s burgeoning sports streaming service did realize some small gains.

The micromobility SPAC reported its Q3 earnings Monday, the same day as its only public market competitor, Bird. Neither company is performing well operationally or on the stock market. Bird issued a growing concern warning and admitted to overstating its revenue for two years. Both companies are trading below $1.00 and risk stock market delisting.

Helbiz closed out the quarter with $3.7 million in revenue, which is down from last year’s $4.7 million, and only $3.3 million in cash. Meanwhile, the company is also spending more and losing more on operations. Helbiz’s operating expenses hit $26.5 million, which is up from the $24.4 million Helbiz spent in Q3 last year. Loss from operations are $22.8 million, up from last year’s $19.7 million.

The biggest chunk in loss of revenue came from Helbiz’s mobility segment. Shared scooter and bike rides only brought in $2.5 million in revenue this quarter, compared to $3.9 million in Q3 2021. Helbiz’s media division, a sports streaming platform, brought in more revenue this year than last at $1.1 million, up from $760,000 last year.

Helbiz reported $129,000 in “other revenues,” which likely refers to the company’s ghost kitchen service, pointing to some growth in that questionable business foray. The company recently partnered with Glovo and Deliveroo in Italy to feature its Helbiz Kitchen restaurants on both food delivery apps.

In a regulatory filing, Helbiz says it believes “increasing the markets for expansion is fundamental to the success of our core business for the foreseeable future.” Yet compared to last year, the number of trips Helbiz riders performed decreased 30.7%. Strangely, between Q2 and Q3, Helbiz’s number of quarterly unique users increased slightly by around 4,820 additional unique users. However, in the same period, the number of trips completed decreased by around 78,000 trips, which suggests that perhaps more users decided to ride a Helbiz and then thought once was maybe enough.

In October, Helbiz completed its acquisition of Wheels, promising to deliver “over $25 million in revenue for the full year of 2022,” by tapping into Wheels’ user base of 5 million riders and expanding into new markets like Los Angeles. For the first nine months of 2022, Helbiz brought in $11.9 million in revenue. The company would need to earn another $13 million in the fourth quarter, which is typically the slowest in the micromobility industry due to colder weather, in order to meet that goalpost.

Helbiz is relying on a lifeline in the form of a Standby Equity Purchase Agreement (SEPA) with YA II PN, a hedge fund operated by Yorkville Advisors Global. Helbiz will try to sell Yorkville up to $13.9 million of its shares at any time in the next 24 months.

The company said it may have to seek additional equity or debt financing, as well, but that there’s no guarantee it will be able to raise funds on acceptable terms or at all.

Perhaps investors were encouraged by Helbiz’s SEPA or by the gains in streaming, because Helbiz’s stock is up 3.09% today. Shares are trading at $0.22.