Zagster, Inc., the leading provider of private and public-private bike sharing systems, today announced it has raised $10 million in a Series B round of funding led by Edison Partners, a leading growth equity capital firm. In addition, Zagster expanded its board of directors by appointing: Tom Vander Schaaff, general partner at Edison Partners; Jonathan Seelig, co-founder of Akamai Technologies, former chairman of the board of Zipcar and former managing director of Globespan Capital Partners; and Chris Randles, former CEO of SpaceClaim Corp as well as MathSoft and a current venture partner at Borealis Ventures.
"With 300 percent growth in riders and programs over the past year, we've proven that our 'Bike Share as a Service' model is scalable, financially sustainable and ideally suited to meet the needs of customers across multiple markets in North America," said Timothy Ericson, co-founder and CEO of Zagster. "This growth capital along with the expansion of our board sets the table for Zagster to enhance our product roadmap, expand our staff, and grow the organization to reach our goal of becoming the national standard in bikeshare."
Zagster operates more than 140 fully hosted bike-sharing programs in 30 states across the U.S. and Canada. Zagster's flexible business model and flexible technology platform has allowed it to successfully implement bike sharing programs in multiple markets -- including cities, universities, corporate campuses and residential properties.
"By focusing on building a flexible and scalable model for bike share, Zagster has quietly become the market leader across multiple segments," said Vander Schaaff, general partner at Edison Partners. "We are extremely impressed with their ability to simultaneously execute and innovate and look forward to partnering with them to accelerate growth."
The Series B round caps a banner year for Zagster. The company achieved 300 percent growth in implemented programs; 400 percent growth in deployed bikes; and 300 percent growth in staff, opening a satellite office in San Francisco and moving its headquarters to a larger space in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In September, the company partnered with car sharing leader Zipcar to create Zipbike, the first nationally-sponsored bike share program for colleges and universities.
"I believe Zagster can become one of the next iconic Boston-based high-growth, disruptive companies," said Jonathan Seelig. "The company is well-positioned to grow the bike sharing market by delivering programs in hundreds of communities where others can't -- or won't -- enabling them to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years."
About Zagster
Zagster is the leading provider of private and public-private bike-sharing systems in the United States, operating more than 140 programs in more than 30 states. Its highly efficient business model allows the company to successfully deploy in multiple markets, including cities, suburbs, universities, commercial campuses and residential properties. Zagster investors include Edison Partners, LaunchCapital; Fontinalis Partners; Clean Energy Venture Group; LaunchPad Venture Group; Otter Consulting and several leading Boston-area angel investors. Zagster aims to make biking the most loved form of transportation for people across the country. Learn more at www.zagster.com.
About Edison Partners
For 30 years, Edison Partners has been helping CEOs and their executive teams navigate the entrepreneurial journey and build successful companies. Through the unique combination of growth capital and the Edison Edge platform, consisting of operating leverage, the Edison Director Network, and executive education, Edison employs a holistic approach to accelerating growth and creating value for businesses ($5 to $20 million in revenue) in financial, healthcare, enterprise and marketing technology sectors. Edison investment objectives also include: buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases.
