Door opener to town halls: e-scooter supplier Tier takes over Nextbike

Door opener in the town halls
E-scooter supplier Tier takes over Nextbike

Tier is expanding its portfolio. With the purchase of Coup, the supplier of e-scooters first brought e-scooters into the house. Now the Berliners are stepping up and buying Nextbike, a broad-based bike rental company. But the new acquisition offers completely different perspectives.

The highly competitive sharing market for e-scooters, rental bicycles and mopeds is moving again: Tier Mobility, known for its turquoise-blue e-scooters, is taking over the Leipzig bike rental company Nextbike, as both companies announced. Nextbike has been operating rental bike systems in around 300 cities and 28 countries since 2004 – mostly on behalf of public transport companies and municipalities. The Berlin company Tier, in turn, has so far offered e-bikes, scooters and e-mopeds for hire in 160 cities and 16 European countries via its app.

The company bosses did not initially comment on the costs of the takeover. Tier had raised around 200 million euros from investors in a financing round a few weeks ago. The Nextbike brand will initially be retained after the purchase: “The brand is very strong,” said animal boss Lawrence Leuschner. “Nextbike also enjoys a lot of trust as a partner of the cities. That is why we are not planning to change anything for the time being.” In the future, customers should be able to use all mobility offers of both brands via the respective apps of the two providers.

The Leipzig-based company was one of the few providers on the market for so-called micromobility who had concentrated on one mode of transport with rental systems for conventional bicycles. Most service providers now offer a variety of driving options through their apps. Tier is currently in the process of establishing e-bikes in addition to e-scooters at various locations. E-mopeds that the company acquired from its competitor Coup have long been part of the range.

Tier is not only hoping for an expanded portfolio through the takeover of Nextbike, but also wants to benefit from the good contacts in the city administrations. E-scooters still do not enjoy a good reputation in many places because they often block sidewalks and are involved in numerous accidents. “There are too many providers on the market, that will consolidate over time,” says Tier boss Leuschner. “We’re big bike fans ourselves and believe that the bike will be the dominant factor in the cities.”

Nextbike boss Leonhard von Harrach doesn’t mind the fact that his company is now part of a portfolio of e-scooters. “The e-scooter trend has not gone unnoticed by us either,” he said. “Of course, that also moves cities, because scooters have become really important as a mobility component there.” Creating your own scooter range was too capital-intensive in view of the fast market.

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