Bikeep raises $3 million to bring smart bike parking to US cities

In September 2021 Bikeep closed a $3 million investment round, led by Marko Oolo, Kristjan Liivamägi and Paavo Siiman. The money went into building a network of local partners to bring Bikeep smart bike parking and e-bike charging to cities across the US. Part of the round was raised on the Funderbeam platform, where investors included Bikeep's own clients and users, and it valued the company at $15.9 million.

Smarter use of the space cities already have

A big part of the pitch was land use. Most bike lockers at transit stations still run on physical keys, so a locker rented to one person sits empty most of the time while other riders have nowhere to park.

"The average transit station has over a thousand lockers that are managed with a physical key, resulting in vacancy times exceeding 80%. We feel the lockers could be smarter and land used more efficiently with the help of technology." Kristjan Lind, CEO of Bikeep

TransLink in Metro Vancouver was the example. There, Bikeep technology turned lockers into an on-demand program where riders buy daily or monthly passes in the app.

Hardware and software from one source

Bikeep set out to deliver the whole system itself, from the docks and lockers to the apps for riders and operators, so that everything works together. At the same time it opened its locking technology and apps to other manufacturers, so they could make their own bike parking connected.

"We need to think about how our future cities will look and function. The car-centric approach is declining, and as more and more people turn to more sustainable methods of transportation, our mission is to provide them with the infrastructure, support, and ecosystem that will encourage them to use bicycles and scooters as the primary means of transportation." Kristjan Lind, CEO of Bikeep

More of Bikeep's 2021 press coverage is in Bikeep in the media in 2021.