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Motorbike sharing platform Motoshare is riding into 2017 at full throttle. The Symbid crowdfunding campaign that kicked off mid-December has turned out to be an easy ride for the mobility startup. After just a few hours the original funding target of €75 K was left behind in the dust. With still a few days to go for overfunding, the speed indicator now points at €224 K raised so far. Who knows how much further they will go?
Adding up the numbers
Motoshare is one of the youngest share economy startups in the Netherlands. Former Philips-employees Jos Huisman and Thomas Jacobs founded the company in May 2016. The two motor enthusiasts thought it was a shame that only 55% of people who ride motorbikes in the country actually own one. They thought it was an even greater shame that most motorbikes only ride an average distance of 3000 km a year. When you are doing the math you can quickly conclude that most time of the year, the motors are catching dust. The two entrepreneurs put two and two together and decided to start a sharing platform for motor lovers. After all, we already exchange houses (AirBNB), campers (Camptoo) and storage space (Storage Share) so now it is time for motorbikes!
Safety First
One of the first things Huisman and Jacobs did when founding Motoshare, was getting together with Dutch insurance company OHRA. Together they made sure all insurances are taken care of. This insurance fee is already included in the rental prices on the website. This means so you won’t get hit with any additional bills afterwards. They now have an arrangement where Motoshare and Ohra each get 15% of every rental transaction, where the other 70% obviously goes to the owner who is renting out his motorbike. Within less than a year, Motoshare has already gathered over 1000 enthusiasts on their platform, 200 of which rent out their bikes as well. Not everyone can join though, as Motoshare makes sure to check all bike renters on their former driver behavior. Road hogs not allowed! You also need to have a certificated official license that can only be obtained after turning 24.
A border-crossing community
Motoshare also emphasizes it wants to build a community through their platform and bring motor enthusiasts closer together. After all, it is nice to meet people who are passionate about the same thing as you are. The startup wants to increase the community feel by organizing ride-outs in the future, and of course it wants to cross borders with its community as well. That is why Motoshare wants to use the funds raised through this crowdfunding campaign not just to reach all motorists in the Netherlands, but also to start riding into neighboring countries. Throughout 2017 Motoshare plans to have talks with Angel investors to raise a seed round in order to really kick its international expansion into gear in 2018.
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