Forest, Europe’s most innovative shared bike operator, that last year submitted a tender to operate e-bikes in Paris, has secured £13m in the first close of its Series B round.
This funding including a facility of up to £10m in Asset-Backed Finance from Fintex Capital and £3m from B8 Venture Partners and existing investors to enable the company to expand its operations, introduce three new e-bike types to its fleet and invest in research and development teams and technology to support sustainable and responsible growth.
This transaction represents another vote of confidence in Forest from a prominent institutional investor. It endorses Forest as an innovative operator whose ‘zero-emission’ operations deliver significant benefits to the residents of London and who seeks to bring its unique approach to other major cities. Since disrupting London’s bike share market in 2020 with its offer of 10 minutes of free daily use, Forest has continued to redefine urban mobility.
Backed by this new financing, Forest will contribute significantly to widening access to shared schemes and reducing car dependency by launching ForestCargo, ForestDuo and ForestKid. With these new vehicle types, the company is aiming to achieve gender parity among its riders by 2027.
Maintaining responsible operations is core to Forest’s commitment to creating sustainable cities that work for everyone. Forest introduced virtual parking bays long before they were mandated and incentivises responsible parking by its users. With the new funding, the company is making further advancements in these areas, with enhanced parking compliance and user behaviour technology.
Forest recently submitted its bid for the Paris tender with the aim of bringing its sustainable and responsible model of e-bike operations to one of Europe’s fastest growing bicycle markets.
Forest already completes more than 1.2 million trips per month. 2024 was a record year for the company as revenues tripled and a first full year of profitability was delivered. The company’s growth is set to continue at pace with plans to expand to new cities in 2025.
For Fintex, the innovative investment firm specialising in Private Debt, this latest Asset-backed Financing follows a highly successful 2024 in which Fintex doubled its UK Assets under Management, while continuing to deliver double-digit net returns. The investment was led by the firm’s CIO Sophie Batoua and funded by the firm’s flagship UK fund, Fintex Private Debt.
