In 2015, Aitor Giles and Xavier Palmero opened a small second-hand bicycle shop in Terrassa. Commerce was picking up speed as commuting by bicycle gained popularity, especially after the covid pandemic. There came a time when the business was running faster and faster, and Giles and Palmero chose to step aside so as not to slow down the growth of their own company.
“They needed financial and marketing experience, and we, at Taurus Capital, look for companies in which to invest and make them grow,” explains Borja Mesonero, co-founder of Taurus Capital together with Juan D. Carretero. Since March 2022, this search fund is the majority shareholder of Bike Ocasión, and Mesonero and Carretero are now the leaders of the company. “We arrived with three objectives: professionalize, expand and internationalize,” says Mesonero. The professionalization came from the hand of the new owners, who have knowledge in business management and administration. On the other hand, as soon as they entered the company, Mesonero y Carretero expanded the business to the entire national territory thanks to the Bike Ocasión online store.
Internationalization materialized last February with the landing of the company in France, where under the Zyclora brand the owners expect to invoice 1.5 million euros in its first year of activity. “The arrival in France is only the first step: this year we plan to gain a foothold in the German and Italian markets and, in 2024, in Portugal, the United Kingdom and other countries of the European Union,” says Mesonero. “The goal is to be leaders in Europe in second-hand bicycles by 2027,” adds the businessman.
The greater volume of business has been accompanied by an increase in the workforce, which has gone from being made up of 17 workers a year ago to the current 38. Billing has also increased, which in 2021 was 6.1 million euros, and in 2022, 7.5 million euros.