Why are investors drawn to cycling?
Cycling is at the confluence of several key trends that investors have wanted to get behind. One is consumer focus on overall wellness and physical fitness, which has been a great tailwind for the market. Many fitness regiments include cycling as a key component, whether its outdoor biking or indoor cycling with a product like Peloton.
Another key trend is mobility. Cycling is becoming much more accepted in the urban and suburban environments as a way of getting around. This trend started in Europe and is now becoming more prominent in the US. From an urban mobility standpoint, cycling plays into that landscape quite well.
Keith Hausmann, Globality’s Chief Revenue Officer (personal photo)
Globality provides a procurement technology solution that uses AI to enable organizations to source complex services across multiple categories. At organizations across all industry verticals, services comprise, on average, 50%-60% of external spend. Most of these services categories are not well or comprehensively managed, and purpose-built technology solutions have been scarce.
Globality recently completed a $138 million Series E round from Sienna Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, and Softbank Vision Fund, bringing the company’s total funding to $310 million since its inception in 2015. This funding will support the company’s continued growth, including go-to-market and client-facing activities and, of course, product development, including user experience design (UX), industry vertical expansion, spend category additions, internationalization, etc.
By Mike Turner
21 Jan 2021
A trio of European corporate issuers brought bond deals on Thursday, shrugging off the potential distraction of a European Central Bank meeting.
Italian multi-utility Acea issued its debut green bond in euros and the UK’s United Utilities Water a sustainable bond in sterling, while Belgian investment holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) issued a conventional January 2031 bond.
The two ESG deals were the most popular of the day. “It’s ESG,” said
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Canyon Bicycle Business
Canyon, the large bike manufacturer, has been in the news at year-end 2020. The first announcement was an acquisition by an acquirer that surprised the market, followed by a billion-dollar investment in a new electric pedal car.
The shareholder group that owns the lion’s share of adidas, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), took a controlling stake in Canyon Bicycles near the end of 2020. Banking on the continued trend in rising global premium bicycle sales, GBL, the Brussels-based holding company, has valued its new investment at almost a billion dollars. Canyon Bicycles, a Germany-based company, experienced surging popularity during the global pandemic, with social distancing protocols drawing users to outdoor cycling as a reprieve.
Groupe Bruxelles Looks to Capitalize on Growing U.S. Bike Market
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November 5, 2020 Canyon Bicycles GmbH. As a result,
TSG Consumer Partners is exiting its stake. Outdoor activities such as bike riding have become very popular during the pandemic, and demand for those products have surged.
“Canyon has long been a lone pioneer in the cycling market for the past 20 years as the only significant direct-to-consumer player while most competitors dismissed DTC in favor of independent wholesale distribution,” says
Blythe Jack, managing director,
TSG Consumer Partners. “Canyon’s world class product range and its DTC strategy has been a powerful combination as revealed during the global pandemic as demand for premium cycling products delivered via e-commerce has boomed. As a result of Canyon’s unique ability to meet the consumer with the product they want in the channel they prefer, the company has been well positi