Fresh money for the bicycle industry: According to information from the FAZ, the Belgian e-bike manufacturer Cowboy has raised 80 million dollars from investors in the course of a financing round.

According to sources familiar with the transaction, after two previous rounds the volume has increased to around $120 million.

The company declined to comment when asked.

Dutch competitor VanMoof announced in September that it had raised $128 million in a new tranche, bringing the total to $182 million.

Klaus Max Smolka

Editor in Business.

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The bicycle industry benefits from the fact that many people (re)discovered cycling during the corona pandemic.

Irrespective of this, electric bikes have been in vogue for a good decade.

The industry has been popular with investors for years, both in terms of financing and investments as well as complete takeovers.

One of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world, Accell from the Netherlands, is to be taken over by the financial investor KKR, as was announced on Monday.

On the Frankfurt Stock Exchange there are newcomers with a bicycle connection on the trading floor: the online retailer Bike24 and the transmission manufacturer h-Gears, which does around a third of its business with the bicycle industry.    

Sector coveted by investors

In 2020, when the corona pandemic broke out in full, sales in the 27 EU countries and the United Kingdom rose by 40 percent to 18.3 billion euros, according to the European industry association, and 22 million vehicles were sold.

On the other hand, the industry is now suffering from delivery problems because global factories have interrupted production and transport is stagnating - which customers in the shop notice from the lack of spare parts and a poor selection of wheels.

In the first half of 2021 - full-year figures have not yet been published - sales fell by a seventh to 2.75 million, according to data from the German manufacturers' association ZIV.

At that time, this was still due to the conventional bikes - i.e. without the support of an electric motor - whose sales fell by a quarter.

Sales of e-bikes increased by 9 percent.

For the year as a whole, the association also expected a decline in this segment in the summer, namely by almost 3 percent.