Bikes are hot. The sharing economy is hot. So Zagster is hot.
The Cambridge, MA-based bicycle-sharing company said today it has raised $3.5 million in new venture funding. The money comes from previous investors LaunchCapital, Fontinalis Partners, Clean Energy Venture Group, LaunchPad Venture Group, and Boston-area angel investors, as well as new investor Otter Consulting. The company has raised a little over $6 million to date and has about 25 employees.
Zagster has been around since 2007, but it seems to be hitting its stride now. The company’s Zipcar-like bike service is available in 50 cities (in 28 states), and it targets corporate and college campuses as well as underserved municipalities. Its customers include General Motors, Samsung, and Quicken Loans; universities such as Ohio State, Duke, Yale, and Princeton; hotels including Hyatt and The Four Seasons; and cities like Cleveland and Albuquerque.
Zagster is led by CEO and co-founder Tim Ericson. The company went through the Techstars Boston accelerator program in 2012.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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