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.
"The majority of cyclists are safe and obey the Highway Code,"...
This looks to be specific to the square mile where - if you are a sensible pedestrian - then you perceive that the moving vehicle most likely to...
Haha! Not quite, don't go giving me ideas now!
Your point being? That old lane (now closed off as is obvious in the link you posted) was built thirty five years ago or more. On the other side...
And yet here you are....
..
"Although other neighbours were outside, nobody else had thought to alert her mum and siblings because there was no car on the drive so they didn’t...
"Aldi apologised for the blocked bike racks and said "we have spoken with the store to make sure that the cycle bays are clear for use at all times...
Interesting..... but perhaps I'll wait for the LIdl or Aldi copy and save a couple of hundred quid.....
The change in running shoes has come in the last five years or so, the TdF analysis goes until 2010, so before, as I pointed out above....