From the Langhe to Europe, the e-bike for slow tourism
Established ten years ago, Bikesquare offers a platform for bike rental for cycle tourism in collaboration with local partners throughout Italy: now aiming to expand to Spain and Germany
2' min read
2' min read
From the Langhe to Europe, to offer everyone the possibility of two-wheel tourism. Founded ten years ago, Bikesquare is an online platform focused on sustainable mobility and cycling tourism, with more than one hundred e-bike rental points between Italy and Spain, with an integrated offer that proposes a complete experience linked to the riches of the territory, starting with food and wine proposals.
Now Bikesquare is aiming to make a quantum leap by expanding abroad with an expansion of its offer in Spain - from Barcelona to the Girona and Seville area - and entry into Germany, centred on Lake Constance, where cycle tourism is already well established, but the more complete experiential aspect is missing. To support international growth, the company, now B-Corp, has launched a crowdfunding campaign, which has raised 113,000 euros so far and will close in early May.
The heart of the offer is currently focused on the Langhe, from where the three founders (Massimo Infunti, Lucia Savino and Alberto Riva) started, with points managed directly between Alba and Roero that have seen over 14,000 rentals in total, but the business has expanded to the rest of Piedmont, the Garda area, the Po Delta, as far as Rome and the Castelli Romani, with partner hirers.
In addition to offering e-bike rental, the Bikesquare model aims to create a network of realities - from hotels and restaurants to farms to museums and tourist points of interest - that work together sharing the common goal of sustainable development of the tourist destination, living the experience on the ground. The platform allows the hirer to manage bookings, from the receipt of the request to the closing of the contract, and to manage the fleet of bicycles in a fully digital way. On the other hand, tourists can easily book, pay the deposit to confirm their reservation and take a self-guided tour with the support of the app that not only gives directions of the route but also suggests where to stop and things to see.
Among those who have believed in Bikesquare from the start is E.On Energia, the Italian division of the German group, which controls 12.45% of the company with an investment of 90,000 euro in 2019. For current investors, the minimum size starts at EUR 600. In 2020 it was estimated at 1.5 million euro, now the valuation has doubled to three million. With the resources raised in crowdfunding, the company expects to quintuple turnover within three years, which in 2023 came close to EUR 800,000, with a positive EBITDA of EUR 274,000.
