Signa Sports United takes stake in Buzzbike subscription service

Signa Sports United, owners of WiggleCRC, have taken a stake in London bike subscription service Buzzbike, as part of its platform expansion strategy. The deal will enable the London based start-up to expand into European and US cities.

Buzzbike, a cycling subscription and tech business, offers a flexible monthly membership package which significantly reduces barriers to start cycling, removing many of the friction points associated with owning a bike, delivered with concierge level support, including user stats and rewards for consistent cycling.

With more than 7 million active customers, SSU’s reach, across European and international markets, will bring Buzzbikes’ unique and successful business model to riders in many more cities across Europe and the United States.

The investment from Berlin-based SSU will also help Buzzbike accelerate development of its product range – from bikes to e-bikes – leveraging SSU’s own-brand e-bike experience. As part of the new partnership, SSU will support Buzzbike’s bicycle development, becoming its exclusive bike supplier.

“We believe bikes can unlock solutions to some of the biggest issues facing our cities, such as congestion and air pollution.” comments Tom Hares, CEO & co-founder of Buzzbike, following the latest funding round.

“By making it simpler to start and keep riding, we have the opportunity to transform the cities of the future. We are delighted to have found a partner in SSU with global scale that shares our vision, to help bring Buzzbike to thousands of new customers across the world. Funds will be used to accelerate development of a new cutting-edge e-bike, grow our world class team and further evolve our technology and services”.

Anton Oliver, SSU’s Head of Corporate Development and M&A, added: “We are thrilled to accelerate the global growth of Buzzbike, which we believe has a competitive edge in the high growth and dynamic bike subscription market. We see huge potential in the bike market in cities around the world, particularly in the US and Europe.”

“The broadening scope of government green agendas and infrastructure spending is resulting in an e-mobility revolution and a boom in e-bikes that will continue to accelerate for the next decade. We also see a sizeable increase in individuals wanting to use biking more for commuting and getting around cities for health, environmental and efficiency reasons.”

Other investors include leAD Sports, a leading sports & health tech fund and accelerator based in Berlin and smart city Lake Nona, Florida, described as the city of the future, and the base from where Buzzbike will expand into the US market.

Andrew White co-Founder and Chairman of leAD sports commented: “As an early supporter of Buzzbike it’s been incredible to watch their growth. We couldn’t be more excited to support the team as they expand into the US in partnership with SSU.”

“At Lake Nona with our partners Tavistock, we’re creating a tech empowered mobility ecosystem that we believe will be the blueprint for cities of the future, (which) includes autonomous public bus networks with Beep and an Aerotropolis. Buzzbike’s e-bike platform will be the perfect complement to this line-up”.

Competition for growth has seen a slew of M&A activity over the past 18 months. The aforementioned SSU WiggleCRC deal made headlines in the UK, European, and North American cycling press, whilst the The ISRG group (which comprises JD Sports, Sprinter and Sport Zone) acquisition of an 80% stake in e-tail giant Deporvillage. was less visible to UK trade and consumers, it was no less impactful.