Publibike sold to VisionEdgeOne

The parties

Headquartered in Bern, PubliBike operates more than 10,000 bikes across Switzerland, including in Bern, Zurich, Basel, and Lugano. Established in 2011 by PostAuto (part of Swiss Post) in collaboration with Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the company pioneered shared, environmentally friendly mobility in Switzerland and has since grown through mergers with local operators such as Velopass and Intermobility. PubliBike became independent in 2022 following a management buyout led by CEO Markus Bacher.

VisionEdgeOne is an infrastructure investment firm with an experienced team across six locations (London, Copenhagen, Paris, Dubai, Austin, and New York) focused on midmarket infrastructure private equity investments primarily in Europe, applying a private equity mindset to value creation, featuring a combination of growth and robust downside protection through infrastructure thematics. Rooted in an understanding of the accelerated pace of change and the impact of the global forces of disruption such as digitalisation, demographics and decarbonisation, we aim to support the transition towards a sustainable future by identifying and investing in the infrastructure of today and tomorrow across four sectors: logistics, energy, digital, and urban.

The outcome

The acquisition is VE1’s second investment in the European micro-mobility sector and marks its entry into the Swiss bike-sharing market. It follows VE1’s April 2025 acquisition of Inurba Mobility, an international micro-mobility operator specialising in bike-sharing systems with a current fleet of more than 20,000 bikes, extending a footprint that already spans Spain, France, Finland, Poland and Hungary.

Markus Bacher, CEO of PubliBike AG, will continue to lead the Swiss business and VE1 will support PubliBike’s continued growth and the roll-out of new services, as Swiss municipalities increasingly turn to micro-mobility as an affordable, healthy and green extension of public transport, with strong adoption from local enterprises and individual users. “We have built PubliBike into a profitable, technology-led operator trusted by cities across Switzerland. Joining VE1’s platform gives us a partner with real conviction in micro-mobility and the backing to invest in our fleet, our technology and our people. Together we can bring even better bike-sharing offerings to more communities,” Markus Bacher said.

Clairfield role

Clairfield acted as exclusive advisor to PubliBike.