Nottingham-based outdoor brand Alpkit, which besides its ranges of cycle clothing and bikepacking bags also owns the Sonder bike brand, has raised £1.5 million in funding on Crowdcube in less than an hour. The company had initially aimed to raise £750,000, achieving that target within just eight minutes, and it took another 44 minutes for investment to be doubled.
> Sonder Santiago Rival22 Hydraulic
The company, which specialises in gear to run, hike, climb, camp, swim and bike, launched its campaign on the crowdfunded investment website on Monday, which came after it saw 500 per cent like-for-like sales growth in the past 12 weeks, with turnover hitting £2.3 million.
CEO and Co-Founder, David Hanney, said, “This is an exciting time for Alpkit and we’ve been completely overwhelmed by the support from our customers.
“For a long time, they've been asking us whether it would be possible to invest in Alpkit and we've always wanted to extend our ownership and deepen our relationship with our customers.
“So when we looked to add financial strength to our growth plans, we wanted to involve them ahead of other financial institutions.
“The response has been incredible and we know we wouldn’t be in this position today without their loyal support."
In all, 1,380 people signed up to the crowdfunding round, their collective shareholding in the company being 12.6 per cent.
The original goal of £750,000 would have equated to 6.3 per cent but was raised when Alpkit realised the strength of demand from its customers to invest in the business.
Of the £1.5 million raised, £400,000 came from the founders of Alpkit, which were biggest single investments.
The company also raised £1.1 million from 1,370 of its customers and staff, with an average investment of £800. The smallest investment was £10, and the biggest investment, £25,000.
According to the Crowdcube pitch, the new investment will be used to:
• Improve our web to grow sales worldwide
• Invest in our team and continue to design great quality products that matter
• Open 2 Alpkit stores a year until we have 12
• Achieve a world-class sustainability record using the B Corp framework.
Other businesses within the cycling sector that have turned to CrowdCube to raise funds include the bike brand Tresca, the electric cargo bike delivery and taxi service Pedal Me, and clothing brands including Le Col.
They are considered a fire risk due to the number of shoddy DIY ebike conversions and it's easier to implement a blanket ban than check each one.
In the "people take boring stuff in the built environment for granted" category:...
I'm on our local council and am always more than happy to argue in favour of pedestrianisation (which we're looking into) or charging for car...
Most Class "C" Drugs are, in fact, prescription drugs.....possession of them without a prescription (NHS or Private) is an offence - the offence is...
For all that motorists are the first to claim, often stridently, that reduced speed limits or other measures to reduce the danger motorists bring...
Greater Manchester version is probably a pretty good bet then. Thanks for the reply.
No problem with ultegra - have replaced the BB before and regreased. My wife's bike was the problem one. Ended up removing the chain rings instead !
I did wonder that. If you disassemble your cassette you would get a few sprockets!...
Beginner??? Where do I start? No mention of tyre levers, or a floor pump, or ordinary simple hand tools like screw drivers and pliers (needle nose...
Next time ask them about cycle infra!