Fifteen, the future French heavyweight in bike rental
This page is translated from the original post "Fifteen, le futur poids lourd français de la location de vélos" in French.
- 08/03/2022 11:42
The union of Zoov and Smoove companies in bike-sharing and long-term rental, Fifteen, is positioning itself to meet its ambitions.
On one side, there is Zoov. Developing bike-sharing rentals, this French company is young, founded in 2019. It has established its presence in Bordeaux as well as on the Paris-Saclay campus.
On the other side, Smoove, proven in bike rental services. Starting in Avignon, then expanding to Montpellier and beyond, the company has extended internationally to Moscow (Russia), Vancouver (Canada), and Marrakech (Morocco). It later gained recognition for taking over the Vélib’ service as part of the Smovengo consortium in 2018.
Smoove and Zoov become Fifteen
In 2019, Smoove and Zoov collaborated for services in Bordeaux and Paris-Saclay, before uniting in 2021. Now, they will be known as Fifteen, under their shared name.
Following their union, Smoove and Zoov completed a funding round. The start of the Fifteen journey is backed by €40 million in financing. This amount will support “the growth of teams” and “investment in the development of innovations that constantly improve sustainability, reusability, and recyclability”.
The funds will also be used for a major goal: relocating production to France. Currently operating abroad, manufacturing within the country will serve the bicycle industry ambitions outlined in the parliamentary report by Deputy Guillaume Gouffier-Cha.
The launch of “Connected Bike Networks”
Fifteen aims to offer cities and metropolitan areas a Connected Bike Network. According to the company, it combines various services such as “shared bikes, long-term rental bikes, station bikes, and tourist bikes”. These services include rentals of varying durations, linked with other public transportation systems.
For now, thanks to the merger of the two entities, Fifteen claims to have 50,000 bikes across its various services. 20,000 are part of the Vélib’ offer in the Paris region, 5,000 in Helsinki (Finland), and 450 in Nice, the brand highlights.
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