London-based bike subscription platform Buzzbike has raised £1.7 million in its latest funding round.

Buzzbike has raised funds from a variety of sources, including the UK Government’s The Future Fund, sports tech accelerator leAD (and its family of shareholders, including the Adidas family), Cooper (the company behind the Mini Cooper) and Paddy Byng, an early investor in Rapha and chairman of Brompton.

Tom Hares, CEO and co-founder of Buzzbike, said: “COVID is driving seismic shifts in the way people move around cities. As Londoners look forward to a new way of living and working, there’s an opportunity to change our daily lives to be healthier and more sustainable. This is where Buzzbike can help. For key workers in the city, cycling has proved a safe way of getting round, and we gave free bikes to NHS staff at the start of the crisis.

“Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen a record-breaking level of interest in our service. Our latest investment round will give us the means to invest into technology, product development, key hires and capability to scale to the demand we’re witnessing”.

Horst Bente, co-founder of leAD Sports Accelerator and Buzzbike investor, added: “At leAD, we support outstanding startups like Buzzbike in the honor of my grandfather, Adi Dassler. We are proud to have invested in this team and we are excited to see Buzzbike’s development. In these challenging times, they have the opportunity and the right product to encourage city commuters to adopt a new lifestyle – healthier and more active. And we are here to help them achieve this ambitious goal.”

Buzzbike recently recorded a 440% surge in sales from February to May, with the majority of subscriptions coming from those new to cycling. The bike subscription platform also partners with companies to offer a low-cost, flexible way to get employees cycling to work. To date, it counts household brands such as Spotify among its corporate partners.

Source: https://www.bikebiz.com/buzzbike-raises-1-7-million-in-latest-funding-round/