Bike.Rent Manager secures £490,000 investment in funding round with Universum Wealth

Bike.Rent Manager (BRM) has secured £490,000 of investment in a recent funding round in partnership with Universum Wealth.

The funds will be used to accelerate BRM’s product development and growth, and to maintain the high level of customer service for which the company has become known. It will also allow the rollout of the upcoming bike.rent B2C portal. BRM is profitable, growing fast with customers in over 27 countries.

Doug Stoddart, BRM CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome this new investment and partnership with Universum Wealth. Not only will the funds allow us to further accelerate our growth but the team and new investors bring a wealth of experience across many industries with a particular interest in cycling and B2C opportunities.”

Sean Young, investment partner from Universum Wealth, added: “We are very excited to join the BRM journey, Doug and his team have built a fantastic business with a sector leading product, which already has international reach.

“The total addressable market is in a secular growth phase for many years to come, thus this investment will continue to fuel expansion and help the BRM team create one of the leading bike rental ecosystems globally.”

Read more: A breakthrough moment: How e-bike market growth ‘exploded’ during the pandemic

Earlier this year, it was announced that the creators of BRM had surpassed its crowdfunding target, raising 123% of the initial £250,000 goal. The team has to implement its plans for growth by hiring two sales consultants and a customer success manager, who, along with recently appointed marketing agency Digital Ethos, will help to deliver BRM’s growth strategy and launch the B2C side of the rental platform.

Based on the success of the CrowdCube campaign, the business plans to expand the access of the platform to consumers so that the rental fleets of all bike stores will be available from a single application.