Cargo bike taxi and delivery service looking to raise £150k via crowdfunding

A London-based cargo bike taxi and delivery service has launched a crowdfunding campaign aiming to raise £150,000 to fund expansion. Pedal Me, which mostly operates within a five-mile radius of Waterloo Bridge at present, says it is reaching the limits of its current capacity and needs to expand.

Using specially designed e-assist cargo bikes, Pedal Me riders can transport two adults or “pretty much any load that doesn't need a forklift truck (and some that do).”  It pretty much goes without saying that the service is booked via an app.

The service’s main selling point is that it offers quicker and cleaner journeys than rivals who rely on motor transport.

In the year to September 2018, Pedal Me completed 18,600 jobs and while it is currently loss-making, from Oct 2017 to Sept 2018 it saw a 24% compound monthly growth rate.

Should the firm secure funding, the plan is to add at least 30 bikes for London to ensure pickup times of less than eight minutes within a radius of three miles from the centre, and additional technology that would support 'stacking' – the pooling of delivery jobs – to make the firm’s logistics service more efficient.

“This allows us to bring down prices and realise our speed advantage fully, to be cheaper across all our market segments,” states the pitch.

The next step after that would be expansion to other cities in the UK and abroad.

Pedal Me says that around 70 per cent of taxi journeys in London are less than five miles and so estimates that its passenger bikes have the potential to complete around 35 million taxi journeys a year.

Same-day delivery is the other key aspect of the service. It estimates London’s market to be worth around £1bn and aims to capture 0.3% or more by 2021.

The campaign has so far raised over £45,000 with 26 days still to go.