Cowboy
“Can a DTC e-bike company become the full-stack urban mobility platform by owning the rider's digital and financial relationship end-to-end?”
Founded2017
HQBrussels, Belgium
FoundersAdrien Roose, Karim Slaoui, Tanguy Goretti
Total raised$120M+
Latest roundSeries C, January 2022
IndustryVertical SaaS / E-bikes & Urban Mobility
The story
Founded in 2017 as a design-led Belgian e-bike startup, Cowboy rapidly expanded across Europe by combining hardware (sleek, lightweight e-bikes) with a software layer (app-based ride management). The company embedded financial services — specifically theft and damage insurance via Qover — directly into its DTC checkout flow, turning insurance into a revenue-enhancing product feature rather than an afterthought. With $120M+ raised by 2022, Cowboy is pursuing the urban mobility platform angle, aiming to own the rider relationship from purchase through ongoing service.
Last 12 months
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Product timeline
2017
Founded in Brussels, Belgium by Adrien Roose, Karim Slaoui, and Tanguy Goretti to build a smarter, app-connected e-bike for urban riders.· pivot
2018
Raised $3M seed led by Index Ventures and launched first Cowboy e-bike in Belgium.· banking
2018
Raised €10M Series A led by Tiger Global; began European expansion into Germany, UK, Netherlands, and France.· pivot
2022
Raised $80M Series C to scale e-bike business and accelerate toward 100,000 riders.· banking
2022
Embedded Qover-powered theft and damage insurance at checkout across multiple European countries, with ~50% opt-in rate.· banking
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Cowboy’s embedded-finance stack
Insurance
Accounting gap: none