Earnings for the third quarter of Helbiz they show a company that is burning cash, not growing revenue and losing passengers year after year. However, the burgeoning sports streaming service of Helbiz made some small gains.
The micromobility SPAC reported its third-quarter earnings Monday on the same day as its only competitor in the public market, Bird. Neither company is performing well operationally or in the stock market. Bird issued a warning of growing concern and admitted to overstating his income for two years. Both companies are trading below $1,00 and are at risk of going public.
Helbiz closed the quarter with $3,7 million in revenue, which is down from $4,7 million last year, and just $3,3 million in cash. Meanwhile, the company is also spending more and losing more on operations. The operating expenses of Helbiz reached 26,5 million dollars, which is an increase from the $24,4 million that Helbiz spent in the third quarter of last year. Loss from operations is $22,8 million, up from $19,7 million last year.
Most of the revenue loss came from the mobility segment of Helbiz. The shared trips scooter and bike only generated $2,5 million in revenue this quarter, compared with $3,9 million in the third quarter of 2021. The media division of Helbiz, 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 income," which likely refers to the company's ghost kitchen service, which points to some growth in that questionable commercial foray. The company recently partnered with Glovo and Deliveroo in Italy to present their restaurants Helbiz Kitchen on both food delivery apps.
Helbiz says it believes "increasing markets for expansion is critical to the success of our core business for the foreseeable future." However, compared to last year, the number of trips made by passengers Helbiz decreased by 30,7%. Strangely, between the second and third quarters, the number of quarterly unique users of Helbiz slightly increased by around 4.820 additional unique users. However, in the same period, the number of completed trips decreased by around 78.000 trips, suggesting that perhaps more users decided to travel on a Helbiz and then they thought once would be enough.
In October, Helbiz completed the acquisition of Wheels, promising to generate “more than $25 million in revenue for the full year 2022”, leveraging the user base of Wheels of 5 million passengers and expanding to new markets such as Los Angeles. During the first nine months of 2022, Helbiz generated $11,9 million in revenue. The company would need to earn another $13 million in the fourth quarter, which is usually the slowest in the micromobility industry due to the colder weather, to meet that goal.
Helbiz relies on a lifeline in the form of a standby share purchase agreement (SEPA) with YA II PN, a hedge fund operated by Yorkville Advisors Global. Helbiz will try to sell to Yorkville up to $13,9 million of your shares at any time during the next 24 months.
The company said it is you may also have to look for capital or debt financing, but there is no guarantee that you will be able to raise funds on acceptable terms or at all.
