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ILLUSTRATION BY OSCAR BOLTON GREEN. COURTESY FLOYD (6)ABicycle
BuiltforMany
directorandsecuredaninvestmentfroma Pon-affiliated
venturecapitalfirm,Ponooc,whichenabledmuchfaster
andsustainablegrowth.Infall 2016 a quarteroftheuni-
versity’s4,000first-yearstudentshadsignedupfora
bikewithSwapfiets.ThePonpartnershipalsohasled
Swapfietstoadda seven-speed(€19.50a month)option
andane-bike(€75a month).
Therehavebeenplentyofgrowingpains,saysBurger.
“Firstwedidn’thaveenoughbikes,thenwehadenough
bikesbutnotenoughpeopletoworkforus.Oncewegot
them,wedidn’thavethebackofficetohandleit all.”They
staffedinitiallyfromtheirownnetworkoffriends.Asthey
expandedtoothercities,back-officeoperations—hiring,
training,payroll,andmore—graduallydeveloped.Today,
Swapfietshas1,300employeesinmorethan 50 cities
acrossfourcountries.Morespecializedroleshavebeen
created,suchasonetooverseebicyclelogisticsand
anothertoanalyzerepairandusagedata.Theinformation
offersa competitiveadvantage,thefounderssay,thatmany
bikemanufacturersmissouton,sincetheircustomerstyp-
icallyvisitindependentrepairshopsforfixes.
ThefirstcityoutsidetheNetherlandsSwapfietsentered
wasLeuven,Belgium.Becauseit’sa universitytown,a large
percentageofits100,000residentsarebicyclists;thecity
hasmorethan 500 bikepaths.Thelocalbikecultureis key
tothecompany’sdecisionofwhichnewmarketstoenter.
Expansionbringsheadaches.“Requestsforbaskets,
helmets,andbicyclebagscamemuchmorefromother
countries than from the Netherlands,” Burger says. Michael
Lucassen, a partner at VC firm Tiin Capital in Naarden,
says, “Close to home, you can find people who support
your high level of service.” Local laws also dictate some
bike features. For example, Germany requires an additional
brake system beyond a coaster brake.
Swapfiets is weighing moves to Australia and Japan and
considering two cities in the U.S.—Portland in Oregon and
Boulder in Colorado. Burger won’t comment on specific
plans, save to say that the founders want their blue-tired
bikes—the color of every front tire in the fleet—in every city
with bike racks. The Netherlands might be the biggest bicy-
cle country, Burger says, but “it is of course not the largest
country.” �Ellen Proper, with Ruben MunstermanTHE BOTTOM LINE A bicycle-rental startup begun by three college
classmates in the Netherlands now has its sights on bike racks in Asia,
Australia, and North America.Swapfiets aims to take its Amsterdam
rental/repair business into every city
with a bike rackAmsterdamhasmorebikesthanpeople,andfarmoreof
its860,000residentspedaltoworkthantakea caror
publictransit.Butatleast80,000bikesarestolenevery
year,andflatsandbreakdownsarecommon.Onanygiven
daythousandsofAmsterdammersfacelifewithouttheir
two-wheelers.RichardBurgerhasa solution.
Fiveyearsagohe,MartijnObers,andDirkdeBruijn
co-foundedSwapfietsin Delft,wherethethreewerestu-
dentsattheUniversityofTechnology.Swapfiets—Dutch
for“swapbicycles”—providesa basicbikefora monthly
feeofabout€16.50($18).Thatcoversrepairsandinsures
againsttheft.Althoughtherearemanymotivesforsigning
on,Burgersays,“everythingcomesbacktothefactthat
yougettheadvantagesofa bicycle,andassoonasthere
aredisadvantages,wewilltakecareofthemforyou.”
Convenience—and cost—persuaded Ruta
Puodziunaite,24,tosignon.“Whenyougotoa store,
theyofferyoua bikefor€300,whichis toomuch.Whypay
€300togeta bike,witha shittylock,whichgetsstolenin
liketwodays,if youcangeta Swapfietsfor€16a month?”
Thatargumenthasledabout130,000customers,
mostlyin theNetherlandsbutalsoin Germany,Denmark,
andBelgium,tojoinSwapfiets.Asthehasslesofown-
inga bicycleincrease,thecompany’sprospectsrise,the
co-founderssay.If a customersuffersa flat,ora cable
snaps,a fewclicksontheappwillsummona technician,
whocanfixthebikeonthespotin aslittleas 10 minutes
orswapit if thebikeneedsextensiverepairs.
Theoperationbeganin spring2014.Burger,Obers,and
DeBruijnwereworkingona thesisprojecttogether—about
icebreakingvessels.Theyfellintoconversationabouthow
manybikestheynoticedin needofrepair.Thatledtothe
bikeswapidea.Thethreequicklysetupa websiteand
a Facebookpage.A fellowstudentneedingwheelscon-
tactedthemviathesite,andpracticallyovernight,thebusi-
nesswasborn.Theybought 40 bikes from a depot where
the city deposits abandoned and illegally parked bikes.
Within a couple of weeks, they bought 100 more from the
depot. (The first customer remains a subscriber today.)
Before long, the trio was overwhelmed: They had 200
customers on a waiting list, and they needed money to
maintain and fix the bikes they bought. In the spring of
2016, Swapfiets started making its own bikes via a deal
with Almere-based Pon Bicycle Group, the manufacturer
of the popular Gazelle and Kalkhoff models. They also
hired a Pon executive, Steven Uitentuis, as managing◼ SOLUTIONS Bloomberg Businessweek August 26, 2019