BikeZaar secures angel investment

PRESS RELEASE – 20TH JUNE 2019

ONLINE CYCLING MARKETPLACE BIKEZAAR RECEIVES THE SUPPORT OF OLYMPIC TRIATHLETES

bikeZaar, the online marketplace platform for cyclists and triathletes, today announced that it has secured Angel investment, reflecting its ambition and commitment to expand. Born from a desire to integrate both digital and face-to-face service in a technical market, bikeZaar has a unique business model, utilising technology to connect supply and demand more precisely, speedily, and easily than ever before. Consisting of a community of high street bike shops, leading brands and service providers, bikeZaar provides a highly differentiated service and an inspirational shopping experience for consumers.

The platform aggregates offline supply; inventory held in supplier warehouses and in retail stores, making it available for customers to quickly find, compare, and buy online with a choice of delivery, or collection in a local bike shop. The investment round was led by Gareth Mobley, formerly the founder and CEO of Solidor and DW3, and now owner of an early-stage investment company, My Clever Group.

Alistair Brownlee MBE – Olympic, Commonwealth, World and European Champion – and Jonny Brownlee – World Champion, Olympic and Commonwealth medallist – also participated in the investment round and have an equity share in the business. Alistair and Gareth join the Board as Non-Executive Directors.

“bikeZaar is a highly innovative company with an advanced, globally scalable, leading edge online marketplace platform,” commented Gareth Mobley. “When you consider that the world’s top firms measured by market capitalisation, all run platform business models – Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, bikeZaar has huge growth potential. Retailers of any size now have the opportunity to participate and take a share of the growing online market.”

Alistair Brownlee MBE said, “bikeZaar empowers local bike shops, giving them the technological tools to transition from high-street based sales to embracing e-commerce, rather than suffering from it. The business provides owners with the digital skills needed to give them the confidence to transition and transact within an online e-commerce community, empowering them to compete with national and global brands on a more even playing field.”

bikeZaar was founded by Kevin Griffiths, an experienced Director in the technology and cycling space, and whose family is steeped in cycling history both in competitive racing and in business. “We are delighted to receive this investment and are very grateful to Alistair and Jonny Brownlee for their support. bikeZaar is all about collaboration and we feel we’ve connected with experts who share our ethos and want to support local retailers by combining tradition and technology,” said

Kevin. “Thanks to companies like Amazon, Airbnb and Uber, we’re seeing a revolution in e-commerce. Within 3 years it is predicted that 40 percent of all e-commerce will be via a marketplace

due to an easy purchasing experience on the consumer side and cost-savings through economies of scale for retailers. With this investment, we can scale this model and make bikeZaar a truly global enterprise that reinvigorates high streets around the world.”

ABOUT BIKEZAAR
bikeZaar.com is an online marketplace platform, striving to be the most customer-centric company where cyclists & triathletes can find & discover virtually anything they want to buy online or in-store via an integrated and ever expanding network.

For high street bike shops, bikeZaar provides a level playing field online, enabling them to compete with their larger competitors without incurring any risk. Through supplier inventory feeds, shops have a choice of additional products and brands to sell without committing to the purchase of additional stock up-front. With a national and international reach, bikeZaar also extends their customer base and creates incremental sales opportunities on several fronts.

For brands and distributors, bikeZaar surfaces inventory hidden away in warehouses or dispersed in retail stores. Customers can instantly find the makes, models, sizes and colours that they are looking for, without having to search and compare numerous retailers. The platform also helps brands to harness end sales and inventory information to enhance the customer experience, make informed price decisions and to support future production planning. Find out more: https://www.bikeZaar.com/about-us

CONTACT
[email protected]
https://www.bikeZaar.com
+44 (0) 3300 080809

Manoj Ranaweera

Manoj has founded, failed and successfully exited from a number of technology product companies as well as support organisations since 2004. Among them, Northern Tech Awards and edocr.com were acquired by GP Bullhound and Accusoft, Inc respectively. Today, Manoj is building a trusted support network for technology companies. He is working with founding teams to help them accelerate including raising investment and M&A.

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