E-bike startup Calamus to establish UK base in Birmingham

India-based e-bike startup Calamus is making its way into the UK market thanks to a place on the Birmingham Enterprise Community (BEC) Forward accelerator scheme.

Calamus is now in line to receive full support and backing to help establish a base in Birmingham, operating its UK HQ from the city. It is the first business to be welcomed onto the third cohort of the innovative Forward programme, which was launched back in 2019.

Nilesh Bothra, co-founder and CEO at Calamus, said: “We’re excited to be creating a base in the UK with the help of Birmingham Enterprise Community’s Forward accelerator scheme. Being here means we can tap into the needs of our customers even better: Europe is our region of highest demand and we want to make sure we exceed customer expectations in terms of the product quality and experience.

“Being involved with the Forward programme is a dream come true for any start-up. It will offer us many perks; providing the right environment and support for growth, and allowing us to be part of an active community of established entrepreneurs. Added to that, being placed in one of the most prominent start-up hubs in the EU will mean much-needed exposure in one of our most loved regions.”

Despite trading through the global pandemic, Calamus has seen strong growth in sales of its eco-friendly e-bikes but has also had to navigate the knock-on effects of COVID-19 to its supply chain and logistics.

“While the pandemic has certainly posed challenges, we’ve managed to navigate these and still see a healthy growth in the number of pre-orders received,” added Bothra. “We launched our campaign on Indiegogo last year and from June of this year we started taking pre-orders exclusively through our website and are seeing around a 5-10% increase in pre-orders every month.”

Calamus will start its six-month placement on the scheme in January 2021.

Read the December issue of BikeBiz below: