What JOULE does

Joule NV is a privately held Belgian bicycle leasing company headquartered in Ghent (Rooigemlaan 455) that operates a B2B2E subscription model delivering bikes, accessories, maintenance, insurance, and 24/7 breakdown assistance as bundled monthly packages to employers, employees, self-employed professionals, and public sector organizations in Belgium. The company serves customers through two parallel distribution channels: Joule Lokaal, a national network of local bike dealers covering virtually every municipality in Belgium that handles bike selection, delivery, and ongoing maintenance, and Joule Mobiel, a direct-delivery channel with mobile technicians who service bikes at the customer's home or workplace. Lease terms range from 12 to 48 months, with financing structured through gross salary exchange (brutoloonruil), cafetaria plans, end-of-year bonuses, or mobility budgets, and tiered Service Budgets (Basic €150/year through Advanced €400/year) priced by usage intensity.

Joule's technology layer centers on the Joule Hub, a fleet management platform for HR and Fleet Managers that automates quotes, contracts, invoicing, and employee onboarding, and offers plug-and-play integrations with HR and payroll systems. The company also operates a refurbished bike leasing line as a lower-priced and sustainability-oriented extension of the core offering, and segments its acquisition motion by Paritair Comité (sector-specific collective labor agreements) including PC 200 (general employees), PC 330 (healthcare), PC 226 (transport), construction, food sector, and police services. Joule reports that more than 100,000 people have access to a bike through its leasing program and carries an enterprise customer roster that includes PepsiCo, UCB, Procter & Gamble, Telenet, Sonova, Scania, Baloise, Helan, and others.

Joule monetizes through recurring monthly lease subscriptions with the service package bundled into the monthly fee, claims that its offering is approximately 40% cheaper than private bike purchase and 100% tax-deductible for self-employed and employers, and is differentiated structurally by its dual delivery model and saturated Belgian dealer network rather than by proprietary technology. The company holds a 2025 VCDO sustainability participant label, operates multilingual NL/FR/EN customer-facing properties, and discloses no parent company, no funding history, no headcount, and no revenue figures in the source material.

Name

JOULE

Legal name

Joule NV

Website

https://joulebikes.be

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Joule NV is a Belgian bike leasing company offering subscription-based bicycle leases bundled with maintenance, insurance, and breakdown assistance to employers, employees, self-employed professionals, and government entities across Belgium via a national dealer network and direct mobile delivery.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Bike Leasing

NAICS

Automotive Equipment Rental and Leasing (5321)

akta.pro primary industry

Bike Rental, Demo & Tour Operators (Retail-Adjacent) (CRAMAHAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Cargo Bikes & E-Cargo Bikes Rental/Leasing (TLABAGAB)

Keywords

• Corporate bike leasing
• Employee mobility benefits
• Fleet management platform
• Salary sacrifice cycling
• Sustainable commuting

Headquarters

HQ city

Gent

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Bike Leasing Subscription: Monthly lease payments for bicycles with bundled service packages. Customers pay a monthly fee that includes the bike, accessories, annual maintenance, damage and theft insurance, and 24/7 breakdown assistance. Lease terms of 12, 24, 36, or 48 months are offered. Employers can offer cost-neutral arrangements through gross salary exchange, year-end bonuses, or mobility budgets.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

JOULE provides full-service corporate bike leasing subscriptions in Belgium, bundling a lease bicycle with accessories, tiered maintenance service budgets, omnium insurance, and 24/7 breakdown assistance into a single monthly fee. Employers, self-employed professionals, and government entities access bikes via a nationwide local dealer network (Joule Lokaal) or direct mobile delivery (Joule Mobiel), with the Joule Hub platform handling fleet management, contracts, invoicing, and HR/payroll integration.

Product overview

JOULE operates as a bike leasing company offering an integrated service model combining two delivery channels — Joule Lokaal (via local bike dealers) and Joule Mobiel (mobile delivery and service) — alongside the core Fietsleasing platform. The service bundles a lease bike with tiered Service Budgets (Basic through Advanced), omnium insurance, and 24/7 breakdown assistance into a single monthly payment. Joule Hub serves as the fleet management dashboard for employers. The company also offers refurbished bike leasing to expand accessibility. Financing is structured through brutoloonruil (salary sacrifice), cafetaria plans, end-of-year bonuses, or mobility budgets, targeting employers, self-employed professionals, and public sector organizations in Belgium.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fietsleasing (Bike Leasing Subscription) Full-service corporate bike leasing subscription bundling a lease bike with accessories, tiered maintenance service budgets, omnium insurance, and 24/7 breakdown assistance in one monthly fee. Available lease terms of 12, 24, 36, or 48 months for employers, employees, self-employed professionals, and government entities in Belgium, financed via gross salary exchange (brutoloonruil), cafetaria plans, year-end bonuses, or mobility budgets.
• Joule Lokaal Bike selection and delivery option through a nationwide network of local bike dealers in Belgium. Employees choose their bike from a trusted local dealer, with bike selection advice and ongoing maintenance handled by the same dealer. Offers personal service and local expertise.
• Joule Mobiel Mobile bike delivery and service option where bikes are delivered directly to employees, with maintenance and repairs performed by mobile technicians at the workplace or home. Offers a quick and simple online ordering process.
• Joule Hub Web-based fleet management portal for HR and Fleet Managers to manage quotes, contracts, invoicing, and employee onboarding. Provides an overview dashboard and automates administrative processes with plug-and-play integrations to HR and payroll tools.
• Refurbished Bikes (Refurbished Fietsen) Refurbished bike leasing option offering sustainable and cost-effective alternatives for employees, making bike leasing accessible to a broader audience with budget constraints.

Quantifiable outcome

• 40% cost savings compared to private bike purchase
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cyclescheme (UK): UK bike-to-work scheme provider enabling employees to lease bikes via salary sacrifice through employers; mirrors Joule's gross-salary-exchange mechanic and B2B distribution model, albeit in the UK regulatory environment.
• Green Commute Initiative (UK): UK provider of salary-sacrifice bike and e-bike schemes for employers; analogous to Joule in structuring employer-funded bike benefits through payroll, with similar bundling of maintenance and insurance.
• Swapfiets: Dutch-origin subscription bike service offering monthly bike subscriptions with bundled maintenance and repair; directly comparable to Joule's recurring subscription model and bundled-service approach, though Swapfiets is more consumer-led and operates across multiple European cities.
• B2Bike: Belgian corporate bike leasing provider serving employers with salary-sacrifice lease arrangements; directly overlaps with Joule on Belgian employer customers and B2B bike leasing economics.
• Cyclis: Belgian bicycle leasing company providing corporate bike leasing programmes with maintenance and insurance bundles; directly comparable to Joule in target customer, product structure, and Belgian market focus.
• Lease a Bike (Belgian operations): Belgian bike leasing platform offering employer and employee bike leasing with bundled service packages; competes head-to-head with Joule in the same Belgian B2B channel with similar salary-sacrifice financing structures.

Broad incumbents

• Decathlon Pro: B2B division of Decathlon offering corporate mobility and equipment services including bike programmes; competes for the same corporate wellness/mobility budgets but as part of Decathlon's broad sporting-goods portfolio rather than a bike-leasing specialist.
• KBC (KBC Fiets / KBC Bike Lease): Belgian bank offering an employee bike leasing programme that leverages KBC's banking relationships and payroll integrations; competes with Joule for the same Belgian employer contracts but bundles bike leasing with broader financial services.

Emerging players

• Velofix: Mobile bike services and maintenance provider operating in North America and Europe; shares Joule Mobiel's mobile-technician, on-site service approach and is relevant where bike-leasing operators look for last-mile maintenance partners.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Joulebikes.be
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/joulebikes
• Instagraminstagram.com/joulebikes

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about JOULE