BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Link My Ride, the social cycling app, has announced it has received investment from a range of high profile names from across sport, including F1’s Valtteri Bottas, alongside current professional cyclists Daryl Impey, Tiffany Cromwell and Ryan Gibbons.
The new wave of investment in Link My Ride will help to secure the next phases of development whilst also adding strength in depth to the leadership board with years of collective experience and expansive networks across the sport.
Headlining the list of new sporting investors is Finnish Formula 1 driver Bottas, a ten-time F1 race winner currently representing the Alfa Romeo-Ferrari team on the circuit.
Outside of motorsport, following in the footsteps of many F1 drivers taking up the sport for both fitness and social reasons, Bottas has made a name for himself in cycling over the past few years, taking part in a number of high profile gravel events as well as using the sport as training for the day job.
In 2022, Bottas rode the SBT GRVL event in Colorado, finishing fourth, first in his age group, before then launching FNLD GRVL, a new gravel cycling event in Lahti, Finland, that forms part of the SBT GRVL series.
Speaking of his investment, Bottas said: “The potential of Link My Ride is huge and when I first learned about the app I wanted to find out more as I’m keen to explore business opportunities that excite me personally.
“It connects people on the bike in such a simple way, saving time when organising rides and finding new routes. I’ve organised several rides on the app now, both public and private, and everyone’s always really happy to ride together.”
Professional rider Tiffany Cromwell, racing for the Canyon-SRAM team, has also committed to the App.
Cromwell said: “I love that Link My Ride allows local communities to be more connected through cycling.
“For me personally it’s an app that I can use on all my travels, another reason I wanted to get involved over and above just being a user.”
Cromwell is joined by fellow pro rider Ryan Gibbons who resides in the cycling hotspot of Girona, an area in which Link My Ride has established itself as the app through which to organise your social rides.
A number of brands and cycling hotspots in and around Girona have created ‘clubs’ on Link My Ride to increase community reach locally, using the app as a marketing tool to increase awareness.
These include Castelli with its new concept store, Chpt3 and Eat Sleep Cycle.
Eleven-time South African national champion and former Tour de France stage winner Daryl Impey also committed his backing to Link My Ride in this recent raise.
Having announced that he will be retiring from the sport at the end of this season, the Israel – Premier Tech rider has since started working on a number of initiatives in the sport and Link My Ride compliments his activities.
Impey said: “There has never been one easy platform to organise rides with friends and clubs, always just too many messages on a WhatsApp or FB group. I’ve been using Link My Ride for a few months now and it has been ideal for meeting new people, growing my own club community and also for being more integrated with the community.”
Link My Ride co-founder Jacques Sauvagnargues spoke about the new wave of investors, saying: “It’s a really exciting time for us and our community in the app with such a wealth of experience joining the team.
Read more: Outright ban on bicycle tyre disposal in landfill takes significant step forward
“The feedback we’ve received from Valtteri, Tiffany, Ryan and Daryl has already been influential on redefining our roadmap and the capital raised will help us realise these hugely exciting next steps in how Link My Ride benefits cyclists all over the world.”
In February, Link My Ride announced a wave of new in-app developments including a Route Creator tool and in-app messaging amongst other benefits.
More recently, a new collaboration with Flanders Classics was launched to host a number of free, public events with partners, in line with the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders).
