Cargoroo raises €10 million for car-free European cities

Dutch eMobility provider Cargoroo, the company behind the well-known yellow e-share cargo bikes, announces it has raised a sum of €10 million from investors.

With this new round of investments, Cargoroo – with a fleet of over 700 e-cargo bikes – aims to expand its position in the European market for e-share cargo bikes. This means even more car rides can be replaced by trips with an electric cargo bike, thereby making cities more liveable, healthier and safer.

Expansion across Europe

The capital raised allows the specialist in e-share cargo bikes to bankroll its ongoing growth. The money will be used to expedite the expansion of the company’s bike-sharing concept across Europe. Next year, Cargoroo will introduce its concept in more cities across Germany and on the French market in the city of Lyon.  In the European cities where the bike-sharing concept is already a well-known sight – such as Antwerp and Berlin – Cargoroo will further expand its presence by significantly increasing the number of available cargo bikes.

In the Netherlands, the e-share cargo bikes will become available in more neighbourhoods and cities. Cargoroo recently launched its concept in Eindhoven. In the near future, the number of available cargo bikes in Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Nijmegen and Arnhem will be expanded as well. Cargoroo also intends to recruit new talent to allow even more customers to experience the myriad benefits of using an e-share cargo bike.

“With this investment, our team can take the next major step towards the realisation of our mission: making cities more liveable, healthier and safer,” says CEO Erik de Winter. “Besides capital, the investors bring extensive experience and knowledge of the sharing economy, the public sector and mobility to the table. We all share the same vision and values.”

Investors with a common goal

The Sharing Group and Participatiefonds Duurzame Economie Noord-Holland (PDENH) join the existing investor Fairtree Elevant Ventures. Together with lease companies, they are investing a total sum of ten million euros.

The Sharing Group is a fast-growing family of tech companies dedicated to “Good Sharing” concepts. Joost van Rooij, CMO The Sharing Group: “When it comes to shared mobility, MyWheels is the best-known brand in our portfolio. Our investment in Cargoroo seamlessly ties into this, as both concepts contribute to reducing the number of cars on urban streets and improving the liveability of our cities.”

As a public fund, PDENH invests in businesses and initiatives based in North Holland that contribute to the energy transition, the circular economy and sustainable mobility in the region. Joost de Waard, Investment Manager PDENH: “Using an e-share cargo bike is a viable alternative to driving a car in Europe’s densely populated inner cities. We believe Cargoroo – as the market leader in this sector – will be able to roll out this concept on a large scale. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, the yellow cargo bikes also contribute to a healthier lifestyle for their users!”

David Evans, Managing Director of Fairtree Elevant Ventures, Cargoroo’s early-stage investor, says of the new investment round: “Cargoroo has consistently shown significant performance in the e-share cargo bike field. It has grown rapidly year on year since its inception and is now looking further afield to scale into Germany and France. The success of this new round of investment is a testament to our belief in the company. Cargoroo’s strong focus on enabling greater mobility, healthier cities and better lifestyles align with our broader portfolio of businesses that operate in the sustainability sector. The Sharing Group and Participatiefonds Duurzame Economie Noord-Holland (PDENH) are joining us in this financing round, both of whom we are pleased to partner with as Cargoroo continues to scale across the continent.”

Cargoroo target audience

The company’s target audience includes anyone who needs a cargo bike from time to time, such as parents who want to make an excursion with their kids, people looking to move heavy or large objects or students moving into student accommodation. Furthermore, urban entrepreneurs and urban logistics are also fast-growing markets. The company’s user base, which has grown threefold over the past year, now includes tens of thousands of customers. Together, these users covered a distance of over 1,500,000 million kilometres.

Future goals

Once the company doubles its fleet of cargo bikes, this impact can increase even further with both new and existing customers.

Cargoroo currently operates in a number of major cities across the Netherlands, including Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Eindhoven, Arnhem and Nijmegen. Internationally, the yellow cargo bikes are already a familiar sight in Antwerp, Berlin and Leuven.