BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The Norwegian software company BikeFolder has successfully completed a fundraising round, securing €1.2 million from existing investors, private equity funds, and Innovation Norway.
This capital will be used to accelerate the company’s international expansion, as they are already seeing significant interest from bicycle manufacturers and retailers worldwide.
BikeFolder has developed a software solution that is designed to “transform” the interaction between bicycle manufacturers, retailers, and bike owners.
The company offers a comprehensive model database with data, which automates many daily tasks in the bicycle industry.
This enables both manufacturers and retailers to access tools that increase efficiency, strengthen customer loyalty, and reduce marketing costs.
Through a “freemium” model, both manufacturers and retailers can access many of these tools for free.
“With the tremendous growth we’re experiencing in the Norwegian market, the time was right to secure new capital for further expansion,” says Sondre S. Norland, CEO of BikeFolder.
“In Norway, both retailers and manufacturers have embraced our system with open arms, and we’re seeing explosive growth.
“We now have over 350 active stores, 700,000 users, and 11 brands that actively use the system.”
BikeFolder is experiencing interest from international bicycle manufacturers and retail chains, thanks to an extensive model database, which contains data on 180,000 bicycle models from 1,989 manufacturers.
This database allows bike shops to automate many daily tasks, and data supplied by the software company suggests that workshops using BikeFolder can become at least 20% more efficient.
Retailers can create a digital twin of the bikes they sell and repair, making customer communication more precise and effective.
BikeFolder has also focused on meeting new EU regulations, such as Right to Repair and Battery Traceability.
With BikeFolder, manufacturers can transition to paperless solutions while remaining compliant with regulations.
An additional benefit is that both bike owners and mechanics gain access to manuals through QR codes.
With this new capital, BikeFolder is well-positioned to enter new markets and continue its mission to digitise and streamline the bicycle industry on a global scale.
