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Petter Stordalen and Alexander Kristoff have long ago bought stocks. Now the people-funded Bikefinder is going to Europe.
STAVANGER (Nettavisen Økonomi 🙂 Last summer, founder Ole Martin Ølmheim (30) was able to see that his invention tracked a stolen bicycle from Stockholm to a warehouse in Romania. Last weekend, the GPS unit led Swedish police to more than 20 stolen bikes in Sweden, and the owners were reunited with their bikes.
After several years uphill, the Bikefinder founder is finally getting paid for his efforts. With a chip on the handlebar, you can have full control over where your bike is at all times.
– If I had known how difficult it would be to prepare it, I probably would not have done it. But now I have worked hard and we are very close to success, says Ølmheim.
Bikefinder (see data box further down in the article) is already available from around 200 dealers across the Nordic region, and in March the technology will be rolled out in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Belgium. When the Stavanger company announced it would raise money through a share issue this fall, 300 investors invested.
– In total, we raised almost NOK 10 million from new and existing shareholders in 2020, says CEO Birgitte F. Sunde, who was brought into the company last year to help grow.
This is Bikefinder
– Bikefinder technology is installed and hidden in the handlebar of the bicycle and allows you to track the bicycle from your mobile. Plus you get insurance.
– The founders of Bikefinder started working with GPS tracking for bicycles in 2014. Ole Martin Ølmheim, who is currently Sales Director, first worked with the idea as an assignment at the University of Stavanger.
– In 2017, Bikefinder Petter Stordalen won the entrepreneur competition and received one million crowns to further develop the product.
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Star investors have been around for a long time
You may have heard of Bikefinder before. Petter Stordalens Strawberry Equities threw one million kronor into the entrepreneurial company in 2017. Stordalan still owns seven percent of the company’s shares. Alexander Kristoff, friend of the Bikefinder Ølmheim founder, has contributed half a million crowns during two previous issues.
– I especially think that the insurance part is attractive to clients. There are already many solid investors in the company and skilled people constantly working to improve the product, writes Alexander Kristoff in a comment to Nettavisen Økonomi.
In addition to Kristoff and Stordalen, TI millionaire Roy-André Tollefsen, former Skagenfondene director Asbjørn Vagle and several other heavyweights have invested.
Many people have probably been annoyed that GPS bike tracking is no longer widespread. Especially when the bike has been stolen. In 2019, 12,657 bicycles were reported theft to insurance companies in Norway. As a former professional cyclist and cycling coach, Ølmheim, the founder of Bikefinder, has become painfully aware of the problem.
– The day before a trip, our team’s pre-favorite had his bike stolen. At lunch, many complained about why there was no way to “find my iphone” for bikes. Then the entrepreneur woke up in me, says Ølmheim.
After working on the idea in college, getting mentors and assistants, the first prototype went live in 2015. The following year, Ølmheim thought the product was finished, but demand was tepid. It would be three years before the GPS tracker hit the market and chain stores like XXL.
– From idea to product, I would definitely say that technology has been the biggest barrier. But we have been tough and we have not given up, says Ølmheim.
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Ride the wave of the electric bike
The first international insurance agreement came into effect on March 15 last year, three days after the closure of Norway. Insurance insurance in Sweden, Denmark and Finland accepted it. Now Bikefinder will focus on Europe’s top cycling nations.
– We see huge potential in Europe. where the bicycle market exploded even before the crown. Bicycles are becoming more and more expensive due to the advent of electric bicycles. Cycling has gone from being a hobby to becoming a means of transportation. But for you to start biking, it must be safe to quit, says CEO Sunde.
– A quick Google search shows that there are many competitors on the market in Europe. What exactly should Bikefinder attack among Europeans?
– There is a constellation of products in these markets, but we believe we have the best technology. Not only in hardware, but also in software and infrastructure, says the Bikefinder boss and continues:
– If you don’t see competitors in the market in such an escalation phase, you should be concerned.
Last year Bikefinder sold just under 8,000 units and the company believes it will almost double this year. Turnover ended at 6.3 million Danish crowns, tripling that of the previous year.
Foodora recently purchased 700 GPS trackers to test the product. In addition, there is a growing interest in the so-called OEM market, where the Bikefinder stick is pre-installed on the bicycle handlebar.
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Increase in bicycle thefts
Figures from Finans Norge show we have to go back to 2002 to find a year with more recorded bicycle thefts than in 2019. Compensation payments from insurance companies were 100.4 million, an increase of 22.8 percent. compared to the previous year. Part of the reason is that people are buying more and more expensive bikes.
– In Norway, you have a three percent chance of finding your bike again if it is stolen. There are three times more possibilities than in other countries in Europe. It is absolutely insane. With our recovery rate, we save a lot of money for both insurance companies and bike owners, says Sunde.
She notes that bicycle theft has long been one of the types of profit crimes that has the highest return relative to risk.
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