Trilvee, an urban mobility start-up that once promised to revolutionise urban mobility, is set to be wound up in 2024 after its Founder and CEO, Michael Mangion, admitted that “picking a hard, currently unloved, and regulated vertical” was a mistake.
“When you're mission driven and want to fundamentally change the way we do things, it can make you blindly dogmatic,” he said on LinkedIn. This strong belief led him to “not appreciate just how rapidly and completely the world was changing around us.”
Trilvee was an urban mobility solution using small three-wheeled vehicles to zip through and beat traffic. Once the driver arrives to their destination, however, the vehicle would not need to be parked, with a remote control driver instead taking over at the wheel and driving it to its next client.
“We size our cars for the worst case trip, so they’re the worst size for most trips,” said Mr Mangion.
In 2022, a live demonstration of the concept saw one of its vehicles being driven around Ta’ Qali in Malta by a driver situated in London.
Despite the mistakes made along the way, Mr Mangion argues that what comes next is not just an end, “but rather a reappraisal and refocusing forced on us by the reality that the world decided to morph into shortly after we embarked on the journey.”
In fact, other than strategic ones, he says the company was “spot on with our decisions thanks to an impressive team, group of advisors, and importantly, supported by an incredible group of our earliest 'investors' (or partners).
“For me, the biggest challenge was deciding to stop fighting the wrong battle and commit to finding a new challenge and then taking those first steps. The decision to leave behind the metaphorical crash and start walking had to be made so that the team - who had mostly stuck together in a frozen rictus through the whole ordeal - could also move on and find new life.”
He added: “So what's next for us? A couple of the team have already started working on a new venture that has good legs and will hopefully take off in the coming months. And a couple are looking for the next role,” he said, inviting those interested in resilient, entrepreneurial, battle-hardened people to get in touch.
As for Mr Mangion himself, he now wants “want to take the industry knowledge I've gained and continue to play in this field while also investigating how the lessons learned and technology built can be applied in other areas.”
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