He answers the call, but apologizes immediately: “I can’t talk to you, I’m on a bike”. However, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux immediately points out, “It’s for going to work, not for leisure! » The value of work is never far away when you question the president of Medef. For him, cycling is not only a means of transport and a Sunday passion for twenty years, it is also a value for the future.
The “boss of bosses” invests, via his holding company Notus technologies, of which he owns 100% of the shares, in several companies which assemble or distribute cargo bikes, these two-wheelers or three-wheelers capable of transporting heavy or bulky loads. Notus acquired Nihola, a manufacturer founded in Denmark in 1998, and Amsterdam Air, an online distributor of Dutch brands. Freighters, but also “tandems, adapted bikes, folding bikes”, says Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux. In 2021, Notus acquired 24% of Douze Cycles, which has been assembling its biporters in the outskirts of Dijon since 2012.
Why invest in the cargo bike? “This sector has strong growth potential, for ecological, regulatory and behavioral reasons”, explains the investor. As cities seek to limit the comings and goings of vans, and as 45 low-emission zones prohibiting polluting vehicles are announced in metropolitan areas for 2025, the transport of parcels and goods by bicycle is set to develop. The boss of Notus identifies several promising sub-markets: “Deliveries, including pallets, craftsmen’s vehicles, family mobility and that of people with reduced mobility. ».
A “solid investor”
Thomas Coulbeaut, founder of Douze cycles, enthusiastically welcomed this prestigious investor. “Geoffroy contacted us last year. I knew he was interested in cycling. It represents a solid investor, which allows us to borrow money”, he says. The famous boss, « serial entrepreneur »also “put oil in the wheels” to help Douze reach a deal with Toyota. The car manufacturer, which is displaying its ambitions in the “carbon-free mobility” market, will distribute 5,500 Douze cargos to its dealers from the summer of 2023.
Holding Notus supports her foals with “steering tools”, especially financial. If, for the time being, the three companies are grouped together in the “Outdoor division” of Notus, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux does not hide his “quite strong ambitions” in the area. “I’m not giving you the green pitchhe said, but it is an ultra-active market, at the crossroads of individual passions, the need to change modes of transport as well as technology, electric and connected. » We receive “every week files from start-ups that offer more or less solid and more or less innovative projects”testifies its leader, determined to devote more time to the holding company when he leaves the presidency of Medef, ” in a year “.
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