However, the startup is also always open to suggestions from other cities and rental companies across the Nordics.

Donkey Republic is developing bluetooth-based bicycle lock systems for apps and has received a lot of positive feedback within the last years. In 2018, the number of bicycles has doubled to 8 000 in 12 major cities and 30 smaller cities across Europe.

Rapidus has interviewed the startup’s CEO, Erdem Ovacik, and he had shared that the company had been in process of raising new capital after a very successful 2018. After some losses in 2017, they have received €8,7 million from Howzat Partners Venture Fund.

Source: Rapidus

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Donkey Republic launched its ectronic lock and an app in mid ­2015. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the company has received further recognition in various competitions, like the Guldæg 2015 prize for Danish IT startups. Since their launch, Donkey bikes have become available in seven countries, with 500+ bicycles ready to cater to travellers’ needs. The system is based on an electronic lock mounted on any bicycle and an app that commands it. Bike rental owners buy Donkey locks to mount on their bicycles, thus making them available on the Donkey Republic platform.

“The rider books a bike and pays online, in advance or on the spotm, and uses the phone to unlock it. By using bluetooth as connection, we eliminate the need for internet to unlock, and it futher requires no docking stations, no cash, no leaving of ID cards or deposits, and no complying with rental shops’ opening hours. Travellers benefit from absolute freedom to set up their explorations on two wheels.” says Erdem, CEO of Donkey Republic.

Scandinavian bike love as global benchmark

For years, other countries have looked at this region’s cities like Copenhagen, Malmö and Lund for inspiration in how to build a cycling culture. Many of them are now pushing forward urban mobility initiatives that promote cycling for short­distance travels, with municipalities like Paris, London, Barcelona or New York already showing encouraging results in creating the right infrastructure and boosting bike utilization. This trend works as a tailwind for Donkey Republic in their building of a future where it will be natural for anybody who enters a new city to want to bike their way around. If they use the Donkey app to get their ride in a few clicks ­even better.

”The need for affordable and sustainable mobility in cities is growing exponentially, and bikes are an obvious solution. The sharing economy already has a good grip on the transport sector, but no current bike­sharing system can scale due to their need for public subsidies. What we are bringing to the table is a green and inexpensive solution to urban transportation that can be run without subsidies and provides everyone with a share of the profit,” explains Erdem.

At The Danish Growth Fund, the expectations are high as to the growth opportunities for the startup.

“Donkey Republic hits spot-­on with several of today’s big trends, by combining sharing economy and bicycle transportation, both lately gaining ground in cities around the world. Their platform has already proven attractive to both customers and end­users, in Denmark and abroad. This creates a strong potential for scaling.”

– says Jesper Lilledal, Investment Director at The Danish Growth Fund’s department of direct investments, VF Venture.

Seeking growth opportunities

Donkey Republic is currently targeting the tourist segment, by partnering with businesses like bike shops, hotels and tourist centres. However, the startup sees future market opportunities in the commuters segment, and are already in dialogue with several Danish municipalities for the introduction of shared bicycles as a part of the public transportation system.

As Erdem puts it:

“Public transportation is costly to run and maintain, especially in rural areas, where there are fewer users than in big cities. It makes sense to look at alternate solutions like shared bicycles as part of the public transportation flow, e.g. when the citizens need to cover the last few miles from the train station to their workplace.”

In Denmark, there are currently 300 bikes that can be rented through Donkey Republic’s platform, distributed in 40+ hubs. Other hubs have been created in Sweden, USA, UK, Spain, New Zealand and Finland, which amount to more than 500 bikes­ with the prospect of reaching a couple of thousands by the end of 2016. An average of 85 rental days are booked in a day on www.donkey.bike globally. Donkey Republic is constantly seeking potential partners among hotels, marinas, tourist information and conference centres, and even real estate developers, with the promise of a simple and convenient bike service that helps our cities become better living environments.

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“We bring together the simplicity of Uber, the sharing economy of AirBnb and the benefits of a bicycle.” Says Alexander Høst Frederiksen, co-founder of Donkey Republic.

The concept is called AirDonkey and consists of a lock and an app that will make it easy for bike owners to rent out their spare bikes to tourists. Donkey Republic is based in Copenhagen and was founded in 2014 by Erdem Ovacik, Alexander Høst Frederiksen, Simon Søndergaard and Jens Frandsen. Since its founding, the company has released over 150 of their own rental bicycles on the streets of Copenhagen.

MAKING BYCYCLES MORE ACCECIBLE

Donkey Republic already has over 500 paying users and more than 10 000 registered trips on their own rental bicycles. By applying the AirBnb model to the traditional bicycle, Donkey Republic hopes to make bikes more accessible to people who want to experience the city.

To achieve this goal, Donkey Republic has set up a kickstarter campaign with an initial goal of 250 000 DKK (34 000 euro), which they hope to reach before November 28.

“Wouldn’t it be amazing that no matter where you go in the world, there is always a bike waiting for you? The idea for AirDonkey grew from a dream of a world where commuters, tourists and also people just enjoying the city, choose the bike before the car.” Says Erdem Ovacik, co-founder and CEO of Donkey Republic.

With the Kickstarter campaign, Donkey Republic hopes to improve the software of Airdonkey and gear up their production, to expand the concept to the rest of the world.

The post DONKEY REPUBLIC LAUNCHES KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN FOR AIRDONKEY appeared first on Øresund Startup News.

The concept had been tweaked for the second event – there were fewer startups pitching, and more focus on 1 on 1 session afterwards between startups and investors. Overall both good improvements, and it turned into a short, good and impactfull event for everyone attending.

Early stage startups

The level of the startups was solid, and covered both early startups looking for € 50 000 or less, up to some asking for for € 1 million. The event was small, but impact-full – the audience was 15 business angels and early stage VCs, including names such as Thorvald Stigsen, Anders Frankel, Rasmus Bjerngaard and Nikolaj Nyholm. With 13 startups present and the different levels, it was also good spread for the different investors.
The startups present where:

• Petreas – connecting service providers with customers.
• Startuptravels – an airbnb for entrepreneurs.
• Sharingear – renting out music equipment to bands and concerts.
• DrinksOnUs – digitalising bar services.
• Forecast.it – a project and portofolio management service
• Sensor Six – a solid team that aims to make enterprise IT better
• Kiggit – a new and more up-to-date way of making betting
• Erghis – touch less technology
• Renouve – a new take on the cosmetics market
• Form – the smart home sensor.
• Rokoko – making motion capture cheap and affordable, especially interesting with the huge interest in virtual reality such as oculus rift.
• Donkey Republic – providing bike rentals in cities that are convenient and digital connected.
• Sponsta – making content marketing and branding on Instagram easier.

After the 4 minuts pitches by each startup, the event was changed into a 1 on 1 session with investors and startups having time for deeper questions and answers. This was highly appreciated and gave the startups feedback and insights, while letting the investors get to know the startups better.

Drawing on the regions strength

Just as last time the event included startup and angels from the entire region, both Copenhagen and the Swedish side, Skåne. Overall this was an event that was short, effective and brought lots of value. Another really good example of community efforts from #malmostartups and #cphftw, and how they do a great job of moving the startup scene forwards.

The event was held in the brand new event space at Rainmaking Loft. Great atmosphere and good for the presentation, but became a little noisy during the 1 on 1s. But this will probably improve for future events.

Stay tuned to cphftw and malmostartups for info about when and where the next AngelNext will be held. And are you interested in pitching your early stage startup, or a business angel who wants get to know good startups, get in touch with Jasenko or Joel.

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