Bicycle subscription service Bike Club has agreed new funds to ramp up its service after a surge in interest from customers.
The firm was set up by James Symes when he began renting bikes to family and friends. He now plans to double its number of bikes to between 50,000 and 60,000 by early next year.
The subscription service starts at as little as £3 a month for a toddler’s balance bike and caters for children and adults. It has raised £7.5million in debt finance through UK investment firm Triple Point to fund the growth for the next phase in longer-term expansion plans.
On the right track: The firm was set up by James Symes when he began renting bikes to family and friends
Jamie Lawson-Brown from Codex Capital, an investor in the firm, said: ‘Everyone has the same problem with bikes as the kids are growing up – the children grow out of them and then they sit there in the shed because they are too small. This model is brilliant because I get the bike, use it and send it back and then I feel good about myself because the bikes gets fixed up with new parts and used all over again.’
He said of the business model: ‘There is so much to go for here. There are about a million bikes sold a year in the UK and this is an alternative to buying a new one every couple of years.’
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