GreenBikeMe Fills the Void of Organized e-Bike Rentals Across Europe

According to the latest Cycling Industry Europe survey, Europe-wide e-bike sales will exceed those of “traditional” bikes within five years, but there are no internationally structured rental operators in tourist locations.

Into this supply gap has stepped GreenBikeMe already operating since early 2022, which is consolidating in the market by offering high-quality e-bike rentals and excursion services for tourism.

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GreenBikeMe equity crowdfunding campaign

GreenBikeMe has launched a capital raising round on the Ecomill portal, Italy’s first crowd-investing platform focused on energy transition and sustainability. The minimum fundraising target is €200,000 for a 13 percent stake and the maximum target is €600,000 for 32 percent.

“GreenBikeMe,” explains CEO and founder Guido Bovolenta, “is the first Italian startup with a European vision born to offer quality green mobility in locations with a high tourist vocation. The idea was born to satisfy a growing audience of people who are looking for an innovative alternative to traditional and polluting means of transport for hire and who want to experience their vacation by experiencing a modern, beautiful, and pleasant means of driving.”

Among its partners, GreenBikeMe, in addition to e-bike manufacturers XP, Magamo, and Lombardo, includes Lenzibike, Italy’s largest e-bike and e-bike store, which has also entered the company’s capital.

An international reference for tour operators and “green” tourists

In tourist resorts, in fact, the service is offered by non-specialized local operators who rent low-quality e-bikes (to contain investment). While in cities of art, the sharing offer of scooters and electric bikes is developing, and some hotels offer bikes and e-bikes to their customers; however, tour operators and hotel chains do not have unique interlocutors, either nationally or internationally.

After opening its first stores in 3 Greek islands in 2022, resulting in the validation of the business model, the company aims to open 8 more in 2023 (Italy and Spain), 15 in 2024, 28 in 2025 until it reaches 100 in five years, for an expected turnover of about 13 million.

The company’s growth model

The creator and founder of the company is Guido Bovolenta, a serial entrepreneur who founded, directed, and developed several initiatives in the development of business applications in the banking and insurance sectors and later founded Medialab, one of the first new media agencies, recently sold after 20 years to the Merkat Group.

“The business model,” Bovolenta clarifies, “is based on renting premium E-Bikes and offering guided group or VIP formula tours, differently declined for tourist resorts and art cities. Electively summer resorts are less profitable than those with long seasons and cities of art, but they allow complete penetration and, therefore, the visibility of the brand, and multiply the occasions of use (e.g., a tourist goes to Rome in spring and to Patmos in summer).”

The development aims at the rapid achievement of economies of scale by replicating and improving the model tested in Greece with the opening of outlets in locations with a strong tourist vocation and long “seasonality” and, at the same time, launching the “guided excursion” service through luxury hotels in cities of art.

In addition, scalability is enhanced by optimizing centralized processes related to purchasing, logistics, reservations and commercial agreements, E-Bike fleet maintenance, and administration.

The role of Ecomill

The portal on which the round was launched was chosen because of its deep relevance to GreenBikeMe’s mission. In fact, Ecomill is the first Italian crowd-investing platform specialized in facilitating the matching of supply and demand of capital in the areas of energy transition and sustainability.

Raffaella Bisconti, COO of the platform, said, “Ecomill,” she explained, “with the GreenBikeMe project starts 2023 under the banner of sustainable mobility, perfectly in line with the European Green Deal. We like to think that we also make a contribution with the projects we select and propose, from time to time, on the Platform! GreenBikeMe offers a set of solutions that bring to life beneficial, greener, digital, and resilient mobility, especially in tourism contexts, but not only. Therefore, it’s a pleasure to host this new project, and are pleased to be able to offer the opportunity to invest in a reality that has strong growth targets in Mediterranean Europe between Greece, Italy, and Spain.”

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(Featured image by u_d7hddm5o via Pixabay)

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