German electric mobility startup Dance raises €12m to accelerate sustainable mobility solutions across Europe

German electric mobility startup Dance raises €12m to accelerate sustainable mobility solutions across Europe

Published: 17-02-2023 10:11:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 3281 | Tags:

Electric mobility subscription startup Dance has raised €12 million in additional equity and debt capital. The equity raise was led by existing investors HV Capital, Eurazeo and BlueYard. 

In addition, Dance is welcoming new investors to support the company's ambitious strategy and impressive growth potential, including: 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).

The proceeds will be used to continue executing on Dance’s mission to create more livable cities by offering sustainable mobility solutions in its 5 operating cities - Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Vienna.

As a 2022 study by BCG has shown, subscription is the fastest growing category in micro-mobility. Dovetailing with this is the continued investments in cycling infrastructure across Europe, in particular in many of Dance’s markets. Paris, Dance’s largest market, has seen an incredible amount of change and investment in infrastructure with a plan aiming to build upon the current level of 1,000 km of bike lanes, 300 km of cycle tracks, and 52 km of provisional tracks in the coming years.

Dance, the startup from the founders of SoundCloud and Jimdo, offers electric bikes and mopeds on a monthly subscription basis to thousands of customers. Within a short time after booking, the company delivers a state-of-the-art ebike or moped ready to ride with great service, including repairs and theft insurance.

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.

Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss, Founder and CEO, Dance: “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. 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.”

www.dance.co