Micro-mobility operator Tier Mobility has acquired fellow German bikeshare player Nextbike.

Berlin-based Tier has purchased 100% of the shares in the Leipzig-based bike-sharing company Nextbike. With the acquisition, Tier is expanding its portfolio of shared, light electric vehicles with rental bikes and e-bikes. This, it says, makes it the leading micro-mobility provider in the world across multiple two-wheeled modes.

Nextbike can leverage Tier’s innovations and financial resources, which was further bolstered by its recent series D financing round of $200m.

The combined force of the two companies should 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 cities, and has established a profitable shared mobility business model in its 17 years of existence.

“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,” said Lawrence Leuschner, CEO of Tier Mobility. “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.”

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 a multimodal platform. This makes it much easier for users to choose between different means of transport for each route without using their own car.

Tier will acquire the shares from the previous majority shareholder Co-Investor Partners, an equity investor focused on high-growth companies in the Dach region, and all other shareholders in an all-cash transaction. The amount of the purchase price and further financial details of the transaction will not be disclosed.

“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,” said Leonhard von Harrach, CEO of Nextbike. “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.”

This year, Tier has expanded its presence to 16 countries in Europe and the Middle East with market entries in Hungary, Netherlands and Bahrain. The major investment in bikeshare 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, Tier announced the closing of its $200m series D funding round. At a valuation of $2bn, Tier has raised $660m in equity and debt capital so far.

Nextbike has also had an eventful year. Despite Covid, it has seen a 50% increase in usage. In total, 60 projects across 17 countries were supplied with new bikes in the past 18 months. Highlights include the modernisation of KVB Bike in Cologne with 3000 new bikes, network expansions in Budapest, Bilbao and Gothenburg, and market entry to Italy and Montenegro. In September, Vienna awarded Nextbike the contract for the realisation of the new WienMobil Rad with over 3000 bikes.

Founded in 2018 by Lawrence Leuschner, Matthias Laug and Julian Blessin, Tier is headquartered in Berlin and operates in more than 160 cities across 16 countries in Europe and the Middle East. Tier’s investors include SoftBank, Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital and White Star Capital.