Belgian Cyclis Bike Lease joins German JobRad Group

Cyclis Bike Lease, the Belgian bicycle leasing company, has decided to partner with the German JobRad Group. The Hasselt-based company was founded in 2014. Ten years ago, the company was one of Belgium’s first bicycle leasing companies.

Cyclis has been the market leader Belgium for years, with 37,000 bicycles under contract. Among them are all kinds of bicycle types: city, ace, and gravel bikes, cargo bikes, and speed pedelecs.

1.5 million lease bikes

Cyclis Bike Lease, which first had LRM and then Belfius Bank on board as a financial partner, is now entering into a partnership with the German JobRad Group. The latter is the German market leader and has already put 1.5 million lease bikes on the road. According to both partners, little will change for customers and employees.

The Germans acquired Belfius’ entire 47.45 percent stake in the Belgian company. A capital increase was then carried out, largely accounted for by JobRad, which now holds 65 percent of the shares.

No changes

The founders of Cyclis Bike Lease will all remain on board as shareholders. The entire team of management and employees, led by CEO Joep Kempen, also remains unchanged.

Joep Kempen, founder and CEO of Cyclis Bike Lease: “This collaboration makes us part of a strong group. […]Together, we strive for innovation and sustainability, focusing on people and employees.”

Holger Tumat, CEO of JobRad Holding: “With Cyclis Bike Lease as the newest member of our group, we can expand our activities to a new and fast-growing market in Belgium and the Netherlands.”

‘Cafeteria plans’

The popularity of the electric bicycle made the lease bicycle a success. The lease bicycle is increasingly included in the ‘cafeteria plans’ of more and more companies to avoid the heavy payroll tax to some extent.

In addition to the lease bicycles, the JobRad group also includes a company that sells such bicycles second-hand and a bicycle maintenance company.