Image Credit: Sasu Halme
Employee bike benefit platform Vapaus has secured a €15 million loan from Norion Bank to expand its market presence in Finland and ramp up operations in Sweden.
Vapaus’ Benefit Bike service creates leasing contracts with company employers who wish to offer their employees a bike benefit in return for monthly tax-free salary deductibles.
The loan from Norion Bank comes shortly after Vapaus multiplied its growth by more than six times in 2023.
“Vapaus saw €4.5 million in net revenue in 2021 which we upped to €30+ million last year,” Vapaus CEO Tero Era told Zag Daily.
“We have invested substantially in our own tech platform developed by our in-house team, enabling us to grow and making us scalable.
“Our focus has been on lean development, data quality and automation that will scale beyond Finland. The platform has maintained a Net Promoter Score of over 70, and it has also enabled us to leverage multiple funding models for our fleet.”
Florent Roulet, Head of Mobility and Partner at European investment bank Bryan, Garnier and Co, works with several European players which operate in the same Employee Benefit Bike sector as Vapaus.
“The financial profile of Vapaus is very impressive, both in terms of revenue growth (growing number of connected employers, and growing number of employees under framework contracts), but even more importantly in terms of margin and profitability,” Roulet told Zag.
“This is super important given the current ‘negative sentiment’ around the Mobility Services industry, especially from investors.”
Another factor which differentiates Vapaus from its competitors is its precycled store. Promoting a circular economy for bicycles, the store is a marketplace for returned and refurbished bikes and Vapaus will continue to develop the concept in the future.
“Vapaus has a unique capability and position to create an offering for the second-hand market for bikes, and it can substantially capture more value from multi-tour bikes, managing bicycle assets throughout their lifecycle,” Tero said.
