Velorution

Idea

Introduction

Velorution is one of London’s leading electric and urban cycling retailers. We aim to bring the most innovative electric and urban cycling products to our customers, the Velorutionaries.

Since our crowdfunding in 2016, we have opened 3 permanent stores and turned over £500k in 2018 from those three stores alone.

Velorution's seasonal concessions and pop-ups in Selfridges and Lululemon drive valuable brand awareness and sales of our urban and electric offering. We plan to expand this program with more exciting brand partners.

Our latest store format, Velorution Electric, has shown strong growth and profitability, as it requires a much smaller retail footprint and delivers a very attractive yield.

The strategy is simple: continue to roll-out the Velorution Electric format stores (with 2 planned for 2019), whilst growing the mixed urban and electric offering through our existing estate and e-commerce channels.

Intended impact

Velorution's goal is to celebrate the wonderful forms of electric and urban cycling, and encourage people to fall in love with riding through cities on beautiful and innovative cycles, designed to the highest specifications and equipped with the most stylish apparel and accessories from around the world.

Over the past 6 years, electric bikes have been a core component of Velorution’s offering.

Expert staff in all of our stores, 7-day-a-week test rides and attractive financing offerings have been key components in switching the daily commute of many Londoners to the e-bike movement.

The growth in this market is set to continue as the UK follows the commuter trends in Europe and, in particular, Germany.

In our view, Velorution is in a prime position to lead and service the growth of the e-bike market and zero-emissions green initiative in the UK over the coming years.

Substantial accomplishments to date

- 2012: the Velorution brand was established and trading began from 88 Great Portland St.

- 2013: Velorution opened its first seasonal concession at Selfridges, which it has continued to date.

- 2014: Velorution opened its flagship store at 75 Great Portland St.

- 2016: Velorution successfully crowdfunded on Seedrs.

- 2017: Velorution Islington opened and a new e-commerce site was put in place.

- 2017: Velorution won the BikeBiz Award for Independent Bike Dealer of the Year.

- 2018: Velorution opened Velorution Hackney and Velorution Electric in Fitzrovia. We also launched our first partnership with lululemon, taking a floor in their Marylebone High St store throughout June 18.

In collaboration with lululemon we organised 19 Velorution events ranging from a Meet the Makers with Tesla and Taschen to a Brompton bicycle ride and a Ladies business chapter meeting. We are now in the 6th edition of our Velorution Magazine which is available to readers online and physically, featuring over 40 interviews with our customers, the Velorutionaries. All of these activities have continued to strengthen our brand and customer awareness.

Monetisation strategy

Management plan to roll-out 2 more Velorution Electric stores in 2019, which would bring the group to 6 permanent sites.

Velorution will continue with its seasonal concession and pop-up program which, along with the Velorution Magazine, to help further brand awareness and sales across the group.

Velorution.com will begin investing more heavily in social media marketing, which has appeared to have made an impact on the performance of the business.

Importantly, we expect that all existing sites in the group (particularly those opened in the last 18 months) - Velorution Great Portland Street, Velorution Islington, Velorution Hackney, and Velorution Electric Marylebone - will continue to mature and be a invaluable part our offering.

We are aiming to have the Group itself moving into profitability, after which new store openings and online growth which we believe will continue to grow in the same manner.

Use of proceeds

Velorution is seeking to raise £400k to continue to fund our growth to date. We have developed a business model which works across multiple channels but recognise that expanding our brick and mortar presence will help us to achieve our ambition of servicing more electric bicycles, further enhancing our brand awareness and ultimately, finding more Velorutionaries. Our focus right now is the London market and ensuring that if you are riding an urban or electric bicycle, that bicycle came from Velorution.

Based on this vision, we want to increase our footfall by sourcing and opening two new hand-picked stores across London. The proceeds therefore from this campaign will be allocated in the following way:

- 2 x New Velorution Electric Stores: 75%
- Inventory & Store Opening Working Capital: 25%