UK platform pedals in £16.75 million to take kid’s bike subscription business up a gear

The pandemic, along with the growing trend for health and wellbeing, has spurred a significant uptick in family cycling. Yet, what tends to put a break in this adventure is the hassle of buying cycles for kids all the time as they outgrow the earlier ones.

Solving the pain to buy new bikes for children every 12-18 months as they grow, UK-based bike-subscription platform Bike Club has raised £16.75 million in funding to take its expansion plans to the next gear by launching in Germany and France.

The Series B round was led by private equity firm specialising in circular economy businesses Circularity Capital along with existing investor Codex Capital.

The company has raised £13.25 million to date.

Founded in 2016 by James Symes and Alexandra Rico-Lloyd, it offers users new or refurbished bikes and scooters online and then allows them to exchange them as their child grows.

Outgrowing the fleets of Lime, Uber and Santander Cycles, the easy-to-manage monthly subscription programme — costing between £4.49 to £15.99 per month — currently has a network of 40,000 quality bikes.

With the new investment, the company has said it will get a fleet size of 220,000 bikes in the next three years.

Bike Club founder James Symes said: “Bike Club is on a mission to disrupt family cycling meaning you never need to buy a kids bike again. We’ve seen traction across the country with different families using us to get outdoors and enjoy a healthier more active lifestyle. We are focussing on family cycling and the junior market, but there is also an opportunity to help parents and other adults get onto bikes.”

David Mowat, partner, Circularity Capital said: “As society faces climate change, we should work together to consume better, meaning we should rent better things and refurbish them. This is exactly the option Bike Club gives tens of thousands of families across the U.K. Its circular economy means less bikes need to be produced each year. Each of their bikes is saving 336kg CO2 versus an owned bike. So far, their fleet has saved 1,174 tonnes of CO2 versus ownership.”

Jamie Lawson-Brown, co-founder of Codex Capital and board member of Bike Club said: “Bike Club's convenient model offers customers flexibility to make the right choices for their children and their wallets.”