Bikeleasing Group announces strategic investment in New Zealand’s leading bike leasing company Workride. Next strategic step in cross-continental expansion

Workride was founded in 2022 by Connor Read and Aidan Smith and has quickly become the market leader in New Zealand. With a clear mission to increase bike commuting, the founders created the country’s first pre-tax salary sacrifice program for bikes, e-bikes, and scooters. To make the program easy to run at scale, Workride built its own software platform - streamlining administration and directly connecting employers and employees with its retailer network.

Strategic investment in people and markets

For the Bikeleasing Group making a strategic investment in Workride is the next decisive step in its international expansion strategy. In October 2025, the Group had already invested in the US-based company Ridepanda.

“What Workride has built in New Zealand in such a short time is impressive. We invest in promising markets, but above all in compelling and innovative teams. Connor and Aidan convinced us from the very first conversation with their passion and entrepreneurial spirit. It quickly became clear: this is a team we want to partner with,” explains Othmane Khelil, Co-CEO at the Bikeleasing Group, the reasons behind the investment.

“We are incredibly excited to join the Bikeleasing Group and become part of a wider ecosystem committed to getting more people on bikes. Combining Bikeleasing’s international scale, operational experience and proven products with Workride’s local knowledge will allow us to move faster, strengthen our offering and create exciting new opportunities for workplaces and cyclists throughout New Zealand,” says Connor Read, Co-Founder of Workride.

Driving growth together

Workride has already built strong local traction - driven by entrepreneurial passion, fast execution and a nationwide network of around 250 bike dealers, alongside trusted relationships with employers, municipalities and government organizations. The Bikeleasing Group adds strategic and operational horsepower, bringing long-standing expertise in company bike leasing and a strong industry network - an ideal foundation to accelerate Workride’s next growth phase. Together, they form a powerful team to scale bike leasing in New Zealand.

About the Bikeleasing Group

The Bikeleasing Group is one of the leading providers of sustainable bicycle mobility and modern employee benefits in the German-speaking market. Since 2015, the Group has been developing digital platform solutions for company bike leasing, insurance services and a wide range of employee benefit offerings. More than 80,000 corporate clients with a total of over 4 million employees already rely on its services. The Group’s brands include Bikeleasing-Service (Germany and Austria), Probonio (Germany and Austria), BIKE2FUTURE and Lesora. More news: www.bikeleasing.de.

About Workride

Workride is New Zealand’s leading provider of employee bike benefit programs. Founded to make daily commuting healthier, more affordable, and effortless, Workride delivers a free digital platform enabling employers to offer bikes and e-bikes as a seamless, pre-tax benefit. Today, more than 2,000 corporate and government employers across New Zealand rely on Workride, positioned for rapid growth in the years ahead.

CONTACT:

Press Contact Bikeleasing Group:

Linda Volkmann

Group Head Communications

e-mail: presse@bikeleasing.de 

https://bikeleasing.de/en/press 

Press Contact Workride:

Aidan Smith

Co-Founder

e-mail: aidan@workride.co.nz 

https://www.workride.co.nz 

Source: news aktuell