Hydrogen is having its moment—not because of hype, but because the economics and demand finally line up. Heavy industry, shipping, and aviation are desperate for clean fuels, governments are throwing serious subsidies behind hydrogen production, and technologies that once seemed speculative are now commercially viable. For early-stage investors, this isn’t a science experiment—it’s a chance to back the picks and shovels of the next energy gold rush.

On today’s episode of Zag Talk, Jonah Bliss joined by Sam Baker, who not only leads the MobilityVC fund, but has spearheaded a new collaboration with the Monaco Hydrogen Alliance to create the MH2Fund. MH2 will back promising early stage hydrogen startups, and we’re kicking things off with a new round of funding for SunGreenH2, a pioneering developer of low-cost, modular green hydrogen electrolysers.

Also on the pod: Greg and Jonah talk Brightline bond troubles, LA’s newest rail lines and much more, while Sela stops by to update us on the UK’s newest twist to its long-running micromobility pilot.

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On this week’s episode of Zag Talk, I’m joined by Steve Greenfield, General Partner at Automotive Ventures. Steve knows the mobility industry inside and out, having jumped from Manheim, Autotrader and TrueCar to investing in promising startups like Axion Ray, JOCO, Recurrent and SparkCharge.

Steve shares his thoughts on where the industry is headed, but also what he’s found makes for a great entrepreneur, including honesty, integrity, EQ as well as IQ, and the feeling that “you want people that have, somewhere along their journey, found something secret” that they now feel compelled to build or solve.

Also on the pod, Greg and I break down Moove’s $1.2B deal, pontificate on the Department of Sustainable Delivery, and also talk about Also; plus, the Zag team heads to the European AV Summit. Listen in!

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This week on the podcast, we’re joined by Gita Gupta, VP, Director of Emerging Technology and Digital Economies, Global Technology Risk Practice at Lockton, and we go deep on all things risk, insurance, and fraud: three words that might make founders’ eyes glaze over… right up until they’re eating your company alive.

Whether you're scaling a delivery platform, launching a micromobility fleet, or building the next generation of autonomous vehicles, your biggest threat might not be competition — it could be what’s hiding in your terms of service, rider behavior, gig workforce or payout liability. From staged crashes to underinsured drivers, bad actors and blind spots can break even the best product.

Gita walks us through the biggest risks emerging mobility and logistics companies face, how insurance can be strategically positioned, and what founders often get dead wrong about coverage. It’s part cautionary tale, part tactical playbook—and essential listening for anyone building in this space. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t understand risk, you (and your investors) can’t understand your business.

We’ve also got a few more fun items on this week’s show: Greg and I veer from AVs to politics, and the Zag Daily crew heads to Eurobike for the latest and greatest on two and three wheels.

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If you step out onto a street corner in NYC these days, you’ll instantly notice the city is buzzing with delivery workers: couriers zip across streets and sidewalks — not always quite following traffic laws — to deliver food, packages, documents and more. It can be a tough job with low pay, meaning these workers can often only afford the most bare-bones of e-bikes to make their jobs tenable.

That in turn has led to a battery fire crisis: poorly made batteries, beat-up hardware and shady charging situations have culminated in dangerous conflagrations destroying businesses and homes. And in turn, a number of startups have emerged, hoping to provide more reliable charging solutions to keep couriers, and their livelihoods, safe and sound.

On this week’s episode of Zag Talk, Jonah Bliss sat down with PopWheels’ President & Co-Founder David Hammer to hear about his unique path into the hardware space, how to work with cities, fundraising, and the uniquely fun experiences you can have when you’re building a product for delivery workers.

And while Greg and Jonah of course also banter about the week’s news, we’ve got another special feature: Sela Musa stopped by Micromobility Europe to report on all the latest two-wheeled innovations fresh on display in Brussels.

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From delivery bots, to cargo bikes, scooters and LEVs… our streets have become a hodgepodge of busy little machines, transporting goods and people to their last mile destinations. But keeping those devices charged, and those packages sorted is no easy feat, especially in cities where real estate is at a premium and when officials are especially guarded about fire safety risks.

Tom Schreiber, Founder & CEO of Perch Mobility, has a solution in the form of his eye-catching, modular “Portal” shipping containers, strategically placed in cities like Los Angeles and NYC. But even with marquee customers like Lime and familiar delivery brands, fundraising for a capex-heavy business has proven a challenge. In today’s episode of Zag Talk, Tom and I get into the art of “seed strapping” a business that can outlast the boom-and-bust cycles of the past few years.

Greg and I are also joined by Zag’s Senior Correspondent Sela Musa, as we gab about new economic research on surge pricing, North America’s firsts shared dockless cargo bike, leadership shakeups at Uber and much more. Listen in!

Get show notes and more news at The Curbivore.

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Startup founders often believe so deeply in the mission of their business that they struggle to see how the world could exist any other way. They adopt a mindset akin to “once my product breaks through, all the naysayers will understand they were wrong to doubt its importance.” Or to borrow a phrase from Mark Zuckerberg, they “move fast and break things.”

That may work when it comes to scaling a social media app or SaaS platform, but things are a bit different for products that don’t live solely on your phone. Governments and policymakers set up the regulations that govern our mobility options in response to real problems observed in the past. And as frustrating as that may be to some founders, in the end they’ll usually get better results from working with cities, as opposed to against them.

That’s why, for the latest edition of Zag Talk, Jonah was so excited to sit down with Sam Roxas, co-founder of Common Good Strategies, to talk about how new mobility startups can better engage with the public sector. Before opening up her own policy shop, Samantha worked for the City of San Francisco, the SF Board of Supervisors, congressional leaders and SPUR, then jumping over to startups like WeWork, REEF and Replica.

Beyond Samantha’s sage advice, Greg and Jonah are also joined by Zag editor Ben Hubbard, as we go deep into the past week’s most pressing industry updates.

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Your favorite mobility and delivery podcast is back, but with a whole new twist! Jonah Bliss and Greg Lindsay have teamed up with Zag Daily to bring you Zag Talk, bringing you fresh news, in-depth interviews and witty analysis every two weeks.

To kick things off, we’re chatting with Zach Rash, CEO & Co-Founder of Coco Robotics. Coco and DoorDash just announced a huge new partnership (shared live from the stage at Curbivore 2025.) Jonah Bliss caught up with Zach beforehand, to get his founding story, why he’s set out to solve urban robotics, the company’s latest hardware developments and the economics of its business model.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com

Few publications have their fingers on the pulse of new mobility quite like Zag Daily. In just the past month, the UK-based publisher has tracked the rise of the robotaxi market, covered the launch of inventive new micromobility options like the Otherlab solar-powered Lightfoot, and has closely covered the eVTOL industry’s rocky descent. Add in some great op-eds and interviews, and you can see why we’re often linking out to their site.

That’s why I really enjoyed today’s interview, where Zag’s Editor Ben Hubbard stopped by (at 29:20) to discuss his high level view of what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong with the overall state of new mobility on both sides of the Atlantic. He also offered up some actionable advice for startups entering the space, including how to make your press pitch stand out in his crowded inbox.

Greg and I also get into the week’s news, diving in on juicy topics like Uber’s very Xmas-y feature launch, cyber weekend sales stats, the sad state of Fisker, and our favorite stories from the past year. This is our last episode of The Courier for the season, but expect us to be back in action in 2025 — please pitch us on guest recommendations!

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At this point it’s not exactly news that it’s a tough fundraising environment out there for new mobility startups, especially ones with a hardware focus. That’s what makes it all the more impressive that Joseph Cohen was able to raise $9 million for Infinite Machine, with the round led by a16z. While Joe might not have a transport hardware background, he dreamt up an eye-catching vehicle — the P1 — that he hopes will get urban Americans out of cars and onto more sustainable two-wheelers.

He’s got big plans for the company's post-$10k halo vehicle: cargo-oriented vehicles, three-wheelers, and more. We talk about that, his design background, how he sold Andreessen on his vision and so much more, in today’s turkey-tastic edition of The Courier. Listen in!

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Tatiana Peralta Quirós has had quite the impressive career: educated at both MIT and Harvard, thoughtful research works with the likes of Gensler and the World Bank, before going on to advise the President of Costa Rica on urban mobility and technology, modernizing LatAm’s automotive giant’s Grupo Purdy Motor as Chief Innovation Officer and then launching Kinto in Costa Rica, helping push Toyota towards new mobility in emerging markets. Today she serves as a Partner at MobilityVC, where it’s been an absolute delight to serve alongside her on a few very interesting autotech projects.

In today’s wide-ranging interview — starting around 15:20 — she shares all she knows about mobility in Latin America, offers some advice for others looking to jump start their own transportation careers, and offers a general master class in automotive knowledge. Before that, Greg and I riff on our incoming transportation czar, Uber Eats’ top cravings, new IPO news, the surge in grocery delivery and so much more.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecurbivore.com