London-based Laka sets M&A strategy in motion with acquisition of VeloLife’s bike insurance business

Laka, a London-based green mobility InsurTech startup, today announced the acquisition of assets from VeloLife, the specialist cycle insurance provider. 

With this acquisition, Laka aims to boost its presence in the UK bike dealer market. A key factor in this growth is the partnership with EPOS provider Citrus Lime, enabling Laka to integrate its insurance products directly into the retail processes of hundreds of independent bike shops. This would help Laka to strengthen its B2B2C model at the point of sale.

Tobias Taupitz, CEO and co-founder of Laka, said, “This acquisition is a key milestone in our bike dealer strategy – and a clear signal that our M&A pipeline is now moving. VeloLife has built a fantastic set of partners, and we look forward to welcoming them to Laka’s network. When we raised our Series B and secured the HSBC debt facility, we were explicit that acquisition-led consolidation was central to our strategy. VeloLife is exactly the kind of deal that strategy was designed for.”

Founded in 2017, Laka aims to challenge outdated traditional insurance to provide customers and businesses with a “fairer, collective-driven approach to insurance”. It claims to have flipped the traditional insurance model with a collective-driven approach for the micromobility sector.

Rather than paying fixed upfront premiums, Laka customers are charged monthly based on the collective’s actual claims. The company states that this translates to fewer claims resulting in lower costs, with every member’s spend capped at a guaranteed maximum.

Laka’s main offering is collective-driven insurance, with its flagship product being bike, e-bike and e-cargo bike insurance, alongside other products such as personal liability, health and recovery, and solutions for commercial partners.

Laka is licensed across the EEA and operates in eleven countries. It has scaled from a UK direct-to-consumer model to a UK and European B2B2C platform, and has secured partnerships with notable companies, including Decathlon, Gazelle, Riese & Müller, Tenways, Ribble, and more.

The company states that its M&A strategy is now underway. According to the company, when Laka closed its €8.8 million Series B equity round in July 2025, co-led by Shift4Good and MS&AD Ventures, it signalled its intent to consolidate Europe’s highly fragmented micromobility insurance market through targeted acquisitions.

That intent was reinforced in November 2025, when it closed its €16.3 million (£14.1 million) Series B funding, which included a dedicated €7.5 millio (£6.5 million) venture debt facility from HSBC Innovation Banking, specifically secured to finance strategic acquisitions.

This marks Laka’s fourth acquisition in three years. It follows the integration of three prior acquisitions: French e-bike insurance broker Cylantro (2023), CoverCloud’s UK bike insurance renewal rights (2024), and Luko’s e-scooter portfolio, acquired from Allianz Direct (2025).

Laka states that each of these deals has expanded its platform in terms of scale, geographic reach, or capability. VeloLife maintains this pattern by adding a network of over 100 UK bike dealer locations to Laka’s partner ecosystem.

Founded in 2021 by Jonathan Woods and Justin Rodley, VeloLife is a specialist cycle insurance provider distributed exclusively through a dealer network of over 100 locations. In addition to cycle insurance, it also offers crucial insurance coverage for commuting, health, income protection, and life insurance.

Justin Rodley, director and co-founder of VeoLife, said, “We are delighted to be joining Laka. This new relationship is a very good fit for our ambition to launch into Europe and beyond. Most importantly, it was clear that Tobi and his team share our passion for quality service for the dealer network and customers. With Laka’s award-winning track record and strong brand, we are excited about what the future holds.”

By leveraging VeloLife’s dealer network, Laka is expanding its diverse B2B2C ecosystem, supporting independent bike shops along with its current global brand partners such as Decathlon, Ribble, Gazelle, Riese & Müller, Tenways, and others.

Laka also announced that all VeloLife customers migrating to Laka will receive their first 30 days of insurance free of charge. 

In 2023, Laka raised €7.6 million in an equity + debt round led by Shift4Good. In 2022, it secured over €10.6 million, led by US mobility investor Autotech Ventures

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