Bike Index
Bike Index is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating the world's largest open-source bicycle registration and stolen-bike recovery platform, serving individuals, bike shops, law enforcement, municipalities, universities, and community groups with a free web-based registry, POS integrations, and QR sticker technology.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Bike Index does
Bike Index is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 81-4296194) that operates the world's largest open-source, community-driven bicycle registration and stolen bike recovery platform. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the platform serves individual cyclists, bike shops, law enforcement agencies, municipalities, universities, and community organizations through a free registration service that has catalogued 1,773,208 bikes, listed 175,470 as stolen, and supported 17,774 recoveries with a total recovery value exceeding $37.4 million since inception. The technology stack is a web-based registry built on open-source code (publicly hosted on GitHub), featuring advanced serial number matching with ambiguous-character handling and close-match detection, tamper-proof QR stickers, a dedicated law enforcement dashboard with LeadsOnline integration for pawn shop flagging, point-of-sale integrations with Lightspeed Retail and Ascend that automate registration at bike shop checkout, and an impounding system for managing abandoned or recovered bikes. SOC 2 Type 2 security controls, GDPR and CCPA compliance, encryption at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication, and 99.9% historically maintained uptime support enterprise-grade data handling.
The organization runs a freemium nonprofit revenue model, offering the core service free to all users and funded primarily through donations, with auxiliary merchandise revenue from QR sticker packs sold via a Shopify storefront. Its go-to-market combines community-led adoption (an Ambassadors Program with volunteer materials packages, social media alerts across Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, and the Fediverse, and partner referrals), OEM-embedded distribution (POS integrations that register bikes automatically at point of sale), and enterprise field sales motion targeting police departments and municipalities with demos, free trials, and the law enforcement dashboard. Five specialized product surfaces — for bike shops, cities, schools, law enforcement, and community groups — sit atop a unified database, while newer product lines extend into campus e-vehicle and micromobility management (EPAMD UL certification verification). Geographic reach has expanded from the United States into Canada (Calgary and Edmonton police partnerships) and the Netherlands (Provincie Drenthe, Op Fietse), with multilingual support in English, Dutch, and Norwegian Bokmål. The lean 1-10 person team is led by co-founders Bryan Hance and Seth Herr with Jan Pecnik as Director of European Operations.
Bike Index firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Bike Index
- Legal name
- Bike Index, NFP
- Website
- https://bikeindex.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Bike Index is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating the world's largest open-source bicycle registration and stolen-bike recovery platform, serving individuals, bike shops, law enforcement, municipalities, universities, and community groups with a free web-based registry, POS integrations, and QR sticker technology.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Bike Index industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Bike Registry and Stolen Bike Recovery Platform
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cycling & Bike Retail (Sales, Service & Accessories) (CRAMABAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Bicycle Programs & Bike Share (Parking, Repair, Rentals) (EDALAKAE), Bike Service, Repair & Maintenance Shops (CRAMAHAH)
Keywords
Where Bike Index is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Bike Index business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Donations and Nonprofit Funding: Bike Index is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 81-4296194). Revenue comes primarily from donations and charitable contributions. The service is free for individual users and organizations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Individual Registration |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Organization Accounts |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
Bike Index product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Bike Index is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating an open-source online bicycle registration platform that lets individuals record bike serial numbers and ownership details, and helps law enforcement, bike shops, municipalities, and universities recover stolen bikes. The platform combines a public registry, fuzzy serial number search, QR stickers, POS integrations with bike retailers, a law enforcement dashboard with LeadsOnline integration, a marketplace for verifying bikes listed for sale, and a community ambassador network.
Product overview
Bike Index is a nonprofit bike registry platform that offers a unified core product (the bike registration database) plus multiple integrated modules and add-ons. The core Registry enables individuals and organizations to register bikes with serial numbers and photos, while the Marketplace allows buying/selling with ownership verification. Add-on modules include QR Stickers (physical identification tags), Law Enforcement Dashboard (investigative tools), Campus Bike Management (for universities), City Registry Tools, Bike Shop Registration Tools with POS integrations (Lightspeed and Ascend), Community Group Tools, Impounding System, Ambassador Program, Strava Search, and Social Media Alerts. The platform serves multiple stakeholder segments (individuals, bike shops, law enforcement, cities, universities, community groups) through specialized interfaces while maintaining a unified database.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Bike Index Registry Core bike registration service that lets cyclists enter manufacturer, serial number, and component information into a publicly searchable database used to prove ownership and aid recovery of stolen bicycles.
- Bike Index Marketplace Marketplace section that allows third-party sellers to list bikes for sale and buyers to verify a bike's registration status and ownership before completing a private-party transaction.
- QR Stickers Physical tamper-proof QR code stickers (manufactured with My Asset Tag's PermaGuard material) sold to organizations and individuals that break apart when removed and link scanners directly to a bike's Bike Index registration page.
- Bike Index API Public API with documentation, OAuth application management, and widget code that allows developers and partner organizations to integrate Bike Index registration, search, and theft reporting into their own applications.
Quantifiable outcome
- $37M+ in total bike recovery value
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Bike Index
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles6 records
Bike Index technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
Feature8 records
Bike Index partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- Calgary Police ServicecoreCPS collaborates with Bike Index to help recover stolen bikes. In 2025, approximately 1,292 bikes were reported stolen in Calgary with bikes valued at roughly $330,000. Police check Bike Index when recovering bikes and reach out to owners through the platform.
- Portland Police BureaucoreImplemented Bike Index's new law enforcement dashboard for registration and recoveries. PPB Bicycle Theft Task Force is known for high success rate in bike theft recovery. First to implement the new dashboard features.
- City of Palo AltoflagshipFirst Bike Index organization to implement custom QR stickers. Partners include Palo Alto PTA, Police Department, and local middle/high schools. Implemented through PTA across five schools with registration drives.
- Stolen Bikes NOLAcoreNonprofit organization committed to bike protection in New Orleans, Louisiana. Partners with Bike Index to register and protect bikes for cyclists, coordinating with law enforcement and bike shops. Grew from a Facebook group into a nonprofit with high-profile recoveries.
- Edmonton Police ServicecoreLaw enforcement partner with established Bike Index integration. One of the first departments to implement the new law enforcement dashboard.
- Los Angeles Police DepartmentcoreLarge metropolitan police department partnered with Bike Index to help return bicycles to their rightful owners. Featured testimonial from Officer Brittany Elenes expressing excitement about the partnership.
- Lightspeed RetailcoreOfficial POS integration partnership. Lightspeed Retail bike shop customers can automatically register every bike sold. All that's needed is customer email and serial number at checkout. Integration is entirely automated.
- Ascend POScoreOfficial POS integration partnership. Ascend Retail exports sold bikes nightly to Bike Index for customer account creation. Setup takes approximately 10 minutes.
- LeadsOnlinecoreIntegration with LeadsOnline allows pawn shops to flag stolen property. Theft victims can add police report numbers to enter bikes into the LEADS system.
- University of MarylandcoreUniversity partner using Bike Index for campus bike management. Thomas Worth from Department of Transportation Services praised the efficiency of Bike Index features for university bike programs.
- San Francisco Police DepartmentcoreSFPD uses Bike Index as their bike registration system of choice.
- Santa Monica Police DepartmentcorePartner law enforcement agency using Bike Index for bike registration and recovery.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Bike Index competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Bike Shepherd: Bike Shepherd is a nonprofit bicycle recovery service with a mission and approach closely aligned with Bike Index. It is comparable as a smaller-scale direct peer operating in the same theft-recovery and registration space.
Others
- LeadsOnline: LeadsOnline is a technology integration partner for Bike Index and provides a national asset-tracking database used by law enforcement and pawn shops. It is comparable as an adjacent ecosystem enabler in stolen-property recovery and law enforcement data infrastructure.
- Citizen: Citizen is a real-time safety and crime-alert app that surfaces incidents (including bike theft) to nearby users. It is thematically comparable as a community-powered safety and alerting platform, though it does not compete in bicycle registration specifically.
- SeeClickFix: SeeClickFix is a civic engagement platform for residents to report non-emergency issues to local government. It is comparable as a municipal-facing community reporting and data infrastructure platform overlapping with Bike Index's city and law enforcement tools.
Direct peers
- Project 529 (529 Garage): Project 529 (529 Garage) is the most prominent direct competitor in bicycle registration and theft recovery. It offers a similar sticker-based registration model targeting bike shops, riders, and law enforcement, directly overlapping Bike Index's core offering and customer segments.
- National Bike Registry: National Bike Registry was the historic US bicycle registration service predating Bike Index's rise. It operates in the same bicycle registration and recovery category and represents a legacy direct competitor with overlapping functionality.
Regional players
- BikeRegister (UK): BikeRegister is the UK's leading bicycle registration database, supported by the Metropolitan Police and many UK police forces. It is the closest international analog to Bike Index, operating the same registration-and-recovery model in a different geography.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Bike Index social profiles
Digital presenceBike Index compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Bike Index financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Bike Index leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Bike Index funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Bike Index M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Bike Index
What does Bike Index do?
Bike Index is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating an open-source online bicycle registration platform that lets individuals record bike serial numbers and ownership details, and helps law enforcement, bike shops, municipalities, and universities recover stolen bikes. The platform combines a public registry, fuzzy serial number search, QR stickers, POS integrations with bike retailers, a law enforcement dashboard with LeadsOnline integration, a marketplace for verifying bikes listed for sale, and a community ambassador network.
Is Bike Index a public or private company?
Bike Index is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Bike Index founded?
Bike Index was founded in 2013. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Bike Index based?
Bike Index is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does Bike Index make money?
One revenue line is on record: donations and Nonprofit Funding.
Who are Bike Index's main competitors?
Bike Shepherd is listed as an emerging player. Others are LeadsOnline, Citizen and SeeClickFix. Direct peers are Project 529 (529 Garage) and National Bike Registry. BikeRegister (UK) is listed as a regional player.
Does Bike Index have an API?
Yes. Bike Index exposes a public API. Developer documentation is at bikeindex.org/documentation.
What industry is Bike Index in?
Bike Index's product category is Bike Registry and Stolen Bike Recovery Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAMABAH, Cycling & Bike Retail (Sales, Service & Accessories), with a secondary code of EDALAKAE, Bicycle Programs & Bike Share (Parking, Repair, Rentals). Its NAICS code is 51929.