Germany-based RYDES raises €3.5M for its all-in-one mobility budget platform for employees

Berlin-based RYDES, a mobility budget platform that offers benefits to employees and companies while fighting climate change, announced on Monday that it has secured €3.5M in a Seed round of funding.

In a company statement translated from German, RYDES co-founder René Braun says, “The completion of our seed financing round is an important milestone on our mission to become the world’s first point of contact for all matters relating to employee mobility and to offer companies a simple, attractive platform solution here.”

Founded in the Lufthansa Innovation Hub, RYDES says it will use funds to further develop its mobility platform and expand into additional markets.

Investors in this round

The round was led by Detroit-based Assembly Ventures and Munich’s venture capital firm Rethink Ventures. New investors Futury Capital and business angel Jens Krüger, who, as Chief Product Architect, is responsible for product development at Workday, also participated.

Additionally, existing investors Lufthansa Group, Forward31, and Arabella Venture Capital as well as the angel investors Christoph Bornschein (CEO of TLGG), Johannes Reck (CEO of GetYourGuide) and Javier Suarez (Travelperk) also participated in this round.

Jessica Robinson, Partner at Assembly Ventures, says, “Innovative mobility concepts that are based on the needs and realities of life of employees are an effective tool for companies to position themselves as attractive employers.

“Because they offer their teams the freedom and flexibility to move around in the way that best suits their individual way of life and work.”

“But the integration on the company side must also be easy and must not cause high administrative costs. We are therefore convinced that RYDES, with its flexible and simple platform, will reshape the future of mobility budgets for companies not only in Germany but worldwide,” adds Robinson.

A mobility budget platform

Founded in 2020 by René Braun and Martin Miodownik, RYDES claims to be the first mobility platform that companies can use to set up and manage the entire mobility budget of their employees.

According to the startup, enrollment and payments are swift, and reporting is simple, thanks to fully automated connectivity with corporate HR, payroll, and tax systems. Also, this saves a lot of paperwork, time, and money.

The platform provides access to all sorts of business mobility globally, including ridesharing, taxis, shared mobility, all public transportation providers, bicycle leasing and automobile subscriptions, and gasoline and charge cards.

The startup reports that it is already trusted by startups, medium-sized businesses, and corporations for its mobility solutions.

Furthermore, RYDES is the only service on the market that automatically compensates for the company’s resultant CO2 footprint through approved climate protection projects.

Access to the 49-euro ticket

Starting on May 1, RYDES can offer simple, fast, and discounted access to the Germany ticket (49-euro ticket), which firms can offer their employees.

The startup handles requesting the Germany ticket from the transport association, providing it to the staff, and immediately posting the monthly payment to the personally allotted mobility budget. 

RYDES says employees have much better terms: the cost of the ticket is lowered by an additional 5 per cent if the company covers at least 25 per cent of it.

Jens-Philipp Klein, Partner at Rethink Ventures, says, “Investors, employees and customers are increasingly demanding that companies reduce their carbon emissions. With sustainable mobility concepts, companies have effective leverage to meet this requirement and are also better prepared for the stricter EU directives planned.”

“RYDES convinced us because it supports the commitment of modern climate-conscious companies in this area by fully offsetting CO2 emissions. In addition, the wide range of sustainable mobility solutions for the workforce promotes environmentally conscious mobility.”

René Braun adds, “If you want to attract and keep motivated talent, you have to rely on flexible, attractive mobility budgets. RYDES is the first employee mobility platform to address these needs.”

“We integrate the bandwidth desired by many and, in addition to access to sharing services, also offer the option of renting or leasing bicycles and cars, using fuel and charge cards or public transport.”