To make e-bikes more accessible and affordable, Berlin-based electric mobility subscription company Dance has raised €12 million in additional equity and debt capital. The equity raise is led by existing investors, German investors HV Capital (that also backed German solar unicorn Enpal) and, BlueYard, and French investment company formed by the merger of Azeo and Eurafrance, Eurazeo.
Additional investors included, Winthrop Square Capital, Joe Zadeh (Ex Airbnb), Max Ciociola (Founder & CEO Musixmatch), Julian Teicke (Founder & CEO Wefox), David Eriksson (co-founder teenage engineering), Katharina Kurz (Founder BRLO), Ryan Johnson (Founder & CEO Culdesac), and Kristian Rädle & Frank Wiedemann (Âme).
In its five operating cities – Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna – Dance will use the proceeds. “We are proud that we have made great progress in 2022, despite a challenging economic environment. We started last year with a few hundred members in Berlin and have quickly grown to many thousands across Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna validating the demand for our sustainable mobility solutions and the power of subscriptions versus owning or sharing a vehicle”, says Dance Founder and CEO Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss. “With the launch of Dance For Business we enable companies to provide Dance ebikes and mopeds as an employee benefit. By continuously growing our movement, we are driving the evolution of cities and making a significant, positive contribution to climate change.”
The German micromobility startup was founded in 2020, by the co-founders of music streaming platform SoundCloud – Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss and Alexander Ljung along with Christian Springub, co-founder of website builder Jimdo. The e-subscription platform offers electric bikes and mopeds on a monthly basis. Upon booking, the company also delivers an ebike or moped with services, including repairs and theft insurance.
B2B offering
Since the launch of its B2B offering, which enables companies to offer Dance bikes and mopeds as an employee benefit, the startup has been signing up an increasing number of partners such as Google and Urban Sports Club. At the start of the year, Dance announced a partnership with the startup IoT Venture, a pioneer in the connected bike sector. Their smart technology enables the location and recovery of bikes and protects Dance’s ebikes even better against theft.
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