One of the leading bike sharing service in Europe-- Donkey Republic entered into a loan agreement with Nordic Green Bank Nefco and raised €5 million. The money will be used to renew and expand Donkey Republic's cycling fleet in Europe.

In order to build sustainable cities, Donkey Republic recently provided cities and organizations with the turnkey Donkey bike and electric bike solution to afford responsible micro-mobility. Furthermore, it also directly manages the bike-sharing services for citizens.

The company will use the €5 million loan raised to purchase approximately 6,000 bicycles and electric bikes to be deployed in the various cities where Donkey Republic operates. Through these initiatives, it is clear that it plans to replace and expand the existing fleet in these cities.

While Donkey Republic aspires to bring sustainable mobility to people, it is also ever mindful of the green, physical and mental health benefits of using a bicycle or an e-bike. Therefore, the company is committed to challenging the entire mobility industry to rethink what it means to be a sustainable mobility company and how to become it.

It is well known that road traffic is one of the sources of environmental pollution. In fact, road transport is not only the second largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fine particle matter in Europe, but also the largest source of nitrogen oxides (Europa Environment Agency). In an effort to improve the state of the environment, Donkey Republic offers a shared bicycle solution to encourage the replacement of private cars and other fossil fuel vehicles in urban environments. The bike-sharing service aims to green urban transportation.

Shared micro-mobility allows people to get rid of fossil fuel vehicles. Ease of access and cheap use are important factors for people to choose it.

The Donkey Republic’s CEO Erdem Ovacik says, “Our mission is to make cities more liveable by offering cities and citizens a convenient, affordable and sustainable bike sharing service”.  Meanwhile, he adds,“In addition to the enormous environmental gains, cycling also brings substantial health benefits thanks to the physical activity it offers”.

Donkey Republic has adopted a strategy of growing the company’s fleet by making use of debt financing.

Søren Rasmussen, the investment manager at Nefco, commented that “This type of business requires large upfront investments. Nefco wants to promote zero-emission modes of transportation and sees long-term potential in Donkey Republic’s solution and growth prospects. As a high-risk debt financier, we are ready to finance this stage to help the company grow and later attract additional lenders”.

According to a study by Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK) in the UK, 53% of bike share program users opted for a program over a car or cab. As a result, users of bike share programs save 3.7 automobile miles each week.