Ever since the pandemic, the travel sector, especially last mile mobility, has gone through a metamorphosis. It is no surprise that people now prefer to travel alone and in a safer manner, at more than an arms-length from strangers. This shift in attitude to highly prefer last mile connectivity helped bolster the current position for many mobility startups, which witnessed increased funding interests.
One such startup is Rad Power Bikes. The US-based based ebike company has bagged a whopping €125.21M investment from some notable investors. The list of investors in the company now includes Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), Fidelity Management & Research Company, The Rise Fund (global impact investing platform managed by TPG), and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
Funds to fuel expansion and innovation
The latest investment will help Rad Power Bikes to further scale its retail reach and service offerings. The company also aims to double its current team of 325 members by the end of 2021 by hiring throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
“Europe is currently our fastest-growing market and we’ve witnessed exponential growth year over year. To ensure that we’re meeting this increased interest and demand for our products, we plan to significantly expand our retail and service offerings in Utrecht, including doubling the size of our European team in 2021. We’re also currently exploring opportunities to move into a new, larger location to support our growing retail and service footprint,” a Rad Power Bikes spokesperson tells Silicon Canals.
Utrecht: Rad Power Bikes’ European base
Founded by Mike Radenbaugh in 2007, Rad Power Bikes offer a variety of ebikes to select from. The company chose Utrecht as its European headquarters, and the reason behind it is because, according to the company’s spokesperson, “ We believe it is one of the best biking cities in the world. We are not alone in this perspective – Utrecht ranked #1 in the world on the 2019 Coya Global Bicycle Cities Index – which ranks the best cities for cycling based on factors such as infrastructure, safety, bicycle usage, and more.”
The centralised European location of Utrecht is also said to be quite important to Rad. “The city attracts diverse, multilingual people from around the world who have a strong appreciation for ebikes and biking culture, which are exactly the type of people we look to hire. The location is also beneficial logistically, as Utrecht is the railway hub of the Netherlands and is close to both Schiphol Airport and the Port of Rotterdam, which is Europe’s largest seaport,” the spokesperson notes.
The company says that it has learned a lot from the Utrecht community. It apparently learned Dutch ideas and advancements for applying them back in North America for future products and services. The Rad spokesperson says, “Many see Utrecht as the birthplace of the mobility movement, and we’ve embraced the challenge of operating in a fiercely competitive European market with some of the world’s most demanding consumers.”
Hiring begins!
As mentioned earlier, with fresh funds at hand, Rad is looking to expand its workforce. The company plans to hire an additional 325 new employees this year across its locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. There are multiple open positions at the company across different disciplines such as marketing, supply chain, and people teams at the Utrecht office, and many more. You can check out their job listings here.
