TIER Mobility acquires bike-sharing company nextbike

Credit: TIER Mobility

European micro-mobility operator TIER Mobility has announced that it has purchased 100 per cent of the shares in the Leipzig-based bike-sharing company nextbike. With the acquisition, TIER expands its large portfolio of shared, light electric vehicles with rental bikes and e-bikes, and nextbike can leverage TIER’s innovative strength and financial resources, which was further bolstered by its recent Series D financing round of $200 million.

The combined force of the two companies will create Europe’s largest and most diverse micro-mobility provider, with more than 250,000 vehicles in over 400 cities. nextbike has been operating bike rental systems since 2004, mostly as the exclusive operator for the cities, and has established a profitable shared mobility business model in its 17 years of existence. Together with nextbike, TIER’s vision of a complete portfolio of mobility options is now becoming reality.

The combination of bicycles, e-bikes, cargo bikes, e-scooters and e-mopeds in free-floating, station-based and hybrid sharing systems creates the industry’s first truly multimodal platform. This makes it much easier for users to choose between different means of transport for each route without using their own car.

Lawrence Leuschner, CEO and Co-Founder of TIER Mobility, said: “The acquisition of nextbike – with its unrivalled experience and relationships across hundreds of cities – is a unique opportunity to take bike-sharing to the next level, getting more people out of cars and offering the most sustainable mobility solution. I have always held a deep belief in the transformative power of bikes in cities – and it is great to see that the bike market is growing rapidly. Our shared values of sustainability and respect for cities across two strong leadership teams, underpinned by TIER’s financial backing and capital efficiency, present an unstoppable, joint mission to change mobility for good.”

Leonhard von Harrach, CEO of nextbike, said: “Since 2004, we have been providing sustainable mobility to hundreds of thousands of people every day and have established bike-sharing as a component of public transport worldwide. We decided to partner with TIER because there is a significant common ground in the corporate culture. Above all, however, we are united in our mission to make cities more liveable with our mobility services and to do something about traffic congestion, pollution and noise. The fact that this is a reality today is due to, among other things, the founders of nextbike, who were pioneers in the European mobility sharing market and were already renting out bicycles when there were no apps.”

The acquisition is the latest significant move in a successful year to date for TIER. The company has expanded its presence to 16 countries in Europe and the Middle East, with market entries in Hungary, the Netherlands and Bahrain. The major investment in bike-sharing follows TIER committing heavily to e-bikes in recent months, with launches in London and Stockholm part of an expansion of its e-bike service across six countries. In October 2021, TIER announced the closing of its $200 million Series D funding round. At a valuation of $2 billion, TIER has raised a total of $660 million in equity and debt capital so far.

nextbike also looks back on an eventful year and has further consolidated its position as a bike-sharing market leader. Despite COVID-19, a 50 per cent increase in usage was recorded. In total, 60 projects across 17 countries were supplied with new bikes in the last 18 months. Highlights include the modernisation of KVB bike in Cologne with 3,000 new bikes; the network expansions in Budapest, Bilbao and Gothenburg; and market entry to Italy and Montenegro. In September 2021, the city of Vienna awarded nextbike the contract for the realisation of the new ‘WienMobil Rad’, with over 3,000 bikes.