Berlin-based e-scooter operator TIER Mobility acquires bike-sharing startup Nextbike to become Europe’s largest micro-mobility provider

Late last year, we wrote about Tier Mobility after the Berlin, Germany-based e-scooter rental startup received a $250 million investment led by the Japanese giant SoftBank. The Series C funding round was also supported by additional funding existing investor Mubadala Capital alongside Northzone, Goodwater Capital, White Star Capital, Novator, Speedinvest, and RTP Global.

With millions of dollars war chest, Tier Mobility announced today it has acquired bike-sharing startup Nextbike. The combined force of TIER and nextbike will create Europe’s largest and most diverse micro-mobility provider with more than 250,000 vehicles in over 400 cities, the two companies said in a statement. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded just two years ago by Julian Blessin, Lawrence Leuschner, and Matthias Laug, Tier is a provider of sustainable micro-mobility sharing solutions. Tier is revolutionizing urban transport with innovative new technologies and micro-mobility solutions that significantly reduce car traffic and free cities from emissions and congestion. The startup is one of the fastest-growing micro-mobility companies in Europe, expanding its operations to 32 European cities in less than nine months.

Since its 2018 launch, Tier has deployed 60,000 e-scooters across 80 cities in ten countries. The Berlin-based company is already profitable and will use the investment to accelerate the company’s vision to Change Mobility for Good. Tier says it managed to reach profitability for the first time this year.

The deal, which will bring rentable bicycles, e-bicycles, e-scooters, e-mopeds, and cargo bikes under one roof, could mark the beginning of consolidation in the highly fragmented industry, with smaller players getting snapped up over the next 12 months.

“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,” the companies said.

Commenting on the acquisition, Lawrence Leuschner, CEO and Co-Founder of TIER Mobility: “The acquisition of nextbike – with its unrivalled experience and relationships across hundreds of cities – is a unique opportunity to take bikeshare 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 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.”

The companies said combining Nextbike’s infrastructure and TIER’s financial power, bolstered by a recent financing round of $200 million that brought TIER’s valuation to $2 billion, should allow them to operate in 400 cities with 250,000 vehicles.

In a statement, nextbike CEO Leonhard von Harrach 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, to the founders of Nextbike, who were pioneers in the European mobility sharing market and were already renting out bicycles when there were no apps.”