UK startup Forest will rent its e-bikes out via ride hailing scaleup Bolt’s app from next week, as it looks to ramp up efforts to challenge Uber’s Lime in the race to dominate London’s streets.
The partnership will see Forest tapping into Estonian company Bolt’s far bigger customer base in a bid to outcompete London’s only other e-bike provider, Lime. From March 10, the UK startup’s 15k e-bikes will be made available through the Bolt app — which the company says more than half of Londoners used in 2024.
Forest is one of two e-bike operators competing in the UK capital, along with US-based Lime — which is backed by Uber and has picked up a total of $1.5bn, according to Dealroom. Forest has raised $26m.
The partnership comes a month on from Lime announcing a £20m investment into its London market.
While Lime has more than double the number of e-bikes on London streets as Forest and is available on the Uber app, the UK startup will be hoping this new partnership helps it amp up the competition.
“This is another powerful example of how mobility players can join forces to simplify how we travel, and boost the number of trips made by bike for the benefit of our communities and the environment,” said Agustin Guilisasti, CEO and founder at Forest.
E-bike rivals
Lime was one of the first e-bike providers to launch in London, in 2018, with Forest following suit in 2020. Others, including the Netherlands’ Dott, have entered the market and since pulled out.
The number of e-bikes on London streets has shot up in recent years, with shared mobility charity CoMoUK reporting that there were 28k bikes in 2023 — just over half the number today, according to Forest.
The UK startup tells Sifted that 12m rides were completed on its bikes in 2024. Lime says that it made 16m rides during “peak commuting hours” that year.
The rise of e-bikes has not been without controversy.
A London council seized more than 100 e-bikes last month in a crackdown to address complaints about e-bikes obstructing pavements or roads. Transport for London, the public transport provider, announced in November it may take action against e-bike companies that allow bikes to be parked outside designated places.
Forest welcomed the move to tackle “irresponsible” parking, while Lime said TfL’s decision “underlines the urgent need for increased parking areas across the capital”, the BBC reported at the time.
The UK startup says revenues tripled in 2024 — though accounts for the 2023 financial year are overdue, according to Companies House, so it’s unclear what that figure would be. Forest tells Sifted it has submitted its accounts but they haven’t been updated on the website.
Currently only active in London, Forest recently submitted a bid for the Paris tender to take its e-bikes to the French capital, as it looks to expand following a £3m equity and £10m debt raise last month.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/bolt-forest-partnership-uber-lime-rivalry-news/
