Amsterdam-based bike sharing service Cycleswap has been acquired by American competitor Spinlister. Cycleswap will take on the name Spinlister.
Cycleswap, ‘the Airbnb of bicycles’ was lauched in 2015 by Joran Iedema (23), David Schogt (23), Matthijs Otterloo (15), David Knap (22) en Wouter Florijn (23).
The company grew to about a thousand active users in a short amount of time and welcomed 150k visitors on the website last year. It was also selected for the Google Startup Accelerator.
In cooperation with insurer VIVAT, the first European peer-to-peer bike-sharing insurance was launched, protecting against theft and damage.
Forces
“This is a great development for Cycleswap”, the founders said. “This year we will join forces with Spinlister’s Santa Monica based team to take bike-sharing in Europe to the next level.”
Spinlister currently has users in over 60 countries and insures bikes, skis/snowboards and SUPs/surfboards against damage and theft.
Earlier this year the US company acquired another Dutch startup: Shurfing.