Co-Investor Partners sells nextbike to TIER
- Majority shareholder Co-Investor Partners sells its shares of European bike-share leader nextbike GmbH (nextbike) to TIER Mobility AG (TIER)
- Together TIER and nextbike become the nummer 1 for sustainable micromobility
- Together, TIER and nextbike serve 400 cities with 250,000 vehicles
Berlin / Leipzig, 15 November 2021 – Co-Investor Partners, an equity investor focused on high-growth companies in the DACH region, sells its majority shareholding of European bike-share leader nextbike in an all-cash deal. Purchaser is TIER, Europe’s leading provider of shared micromobility solutions. Simultaneously, all other nextbike shareholders have sold their shares to TIER. The amount of the purchase price and further financial details of the transaction will not be disclosed.
With the acquisition, TIER expands its large portfolio of shared, light electric vehicles with rental bikes and e-bikes, and becomes the leading micro-mobility provider. nextbike can leverage TIER’s innovative strength and financial resources, which were further bolstered by its recent Series D financing round of $200million.
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, 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 multimodal platform. This makes it much easier for users to choose between various means of transport for each route without using their own car.
Dr. Ralph Eric Kunz, Partner with Co-Investor Partners: „Since our first investment into nextbike, we as growth private equity player have supported nextbike’s objective of establishing bike sharing as a firm component of public transportation and of developing a profitable business model for shared mobility. That this could become reality is the result of the relentless efforts of nextbike’s founders who as pioneers of the European mobility sharing market have rented out bikes before mobile apps were even available. We look forward to nextbike opening the next chapter of its successful history by merging with TIER.”
Leonhard von Harrach, CEO nextbike: “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 managed to transform a small Leipzig-based startup into the European bike sharing leader with over 80.000 bikes. Without the entrepreneurial and cooperative spirit of Co-Investor Partners and its support with financing and structuring our growth to scale our business our success story would not have been possible. “
nextbike looks back on an eventful year and has further consolidated its position as bike-sharing market leader. Despite Covid, a 50% 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 modernization 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, the city of Vienna awarded nextbike the contract for the realization of the new “WienMobil Rad” with over 3,000 bikes.
About Co-Investor Partners
Co-Investor Partners is an equity investor focused on high-growth companies in the DACH region with offices in Zurich, Frankfurt and Berlin. For over 20 years Co-Investor Partners has successfully made equity investments and supports management with an entrepreneurial and cooperative approach. It invests EUR 15 to 30 m per target company. It’s current portfolio consists of 11 investments in various sectors including Tech, HealthCare, eCommerce und eSports. Aside from nextbike, it’s most successful investments consist of Mister Spex (Exit by IPO), Fixatti (sale to the French chemical company Arkema), Euroimmun (sale to US laboratory specialist PerkinElmer) und Casualfood (sale to swiss Orior AG).
About nextbike
nextbike is the European bike-sharing market leader. Since 2004, the micro mobility pioneer has been developing smart bike rental systems and mobilising millions of people in a sustainable way. nextbike operates bike-sharing systems on its own and with a network of international franchise partners. The company is currently active in over 300 cities in 28 countries, mostly on behalf of the public sector. In close partnership with the cities and local transport companies, tailor-made offers are created that are integrated into the respective mobility concept.
