Bike share service Zagster reels in $15M to accelerate U.S. expansion

If you live in Boston, you’re probably already familiar with Zagster, the Cambridge-based startup that helped pioneer bike-sharing back in 2007 and now operates more than 200 bike shares in 35 states.

Today, Zagster raised a fresh $15 million in funding, which it plans on using to become a household name in hundreds more cities and college campuses across the U.S.

Led by Edison Capital Partners, the round will be used to accelerate the nationwide rollout of the company’s new dockless bike sharing service, Pace, and to continue iterating on the dockless platform, said Jon Terbush, communications manager at Zagster.

“Bikes have always locked to things,” CEO Tim Ericson said in a statement. “Cities have been willing to experiment with dockless bikes that don’t lock to anything because they lacked sufficient bike parking and, until Pace, lacked a partner willing to install this infrastructure as part of their service.”

Pioneering cities who choose Pace’s lock-to model enjoy the convenience and freedom of dockless bike sharing without sacrificing safety and order.”

Pace, which was unveiled back in November, features a two-point security system to ensure that bikes are locked to fixed objects like public racks or other bike-securing locations around the city, not just to themselves to mitigate theft. Pace also offers dedicated bike share parking plus “hold” capabilities for mid-rental stops.

“Pioneering cities who choose Pace’s lock-to model enjoy the convenience and freedom of dockless bike sharing without sacrificing safety and order,” Ericson added.

Currently, Pace operates in Tallahassee, Fla., and Knoxville, Tenn. With the new funding, Zagster will accelerate the manufacturing schedule of new Pace bikes and parking racks to expand to dozens of cities in 2018 that want dockless bike sharing.

Zagster currently employs 100 full-time workers, 80 of which work here in Boston.

Terbush said the company will be making significant investments across all departments this year to ensure they have a robust team in place to accelerate the rollout of Pace. If biking is your favorite form of transportation — or you’re itching to join the startup world, you might want to check out Zagster’s open roles.