A HERITAGE bicycle brand based in Stratford is aiming to crowdfund its way to a greener future.
Pashley, Britain’s longest-established bicycle maker, is launching a crowdfunding campaign to allow it to accelerate its growth in the sustainable transport market.
Customers are invited, for the first time in Pashley’s 97-year-old history, to invest in the company with the cash going towards supporting its existing product development in e-cargo delivery cycles, electric assist leisure cycles, and bike share products for public and private hire schemes.
Pashley already has an award-winning e-cargo cycle in production and is in advanced trials with major delivery fleets. It is already the manufacturer behind Britain’s successful bike hire schemes – in London and the West Midlands – and it is planning to launch a much-requested classic consumer e-bike in 2024.
The global e-bike market is set to be worth almost £100bn by 2030.
The crowdfund, launching mid-November through Seedrs, will help support Pashley’s strategy for growth.
Pashley’s chairman Adrian Williams said: “We’re a business with our eyes very much on the future as we approach our centenary.
“In an industry where 98 per cent of cycles sold in Britain are shipped in from overseas, Pashley is very proud to do things differently. We build every cycle by hand at our factory in the Midlands, just as we have since the 1920s. At the very heart of our business remains excellence in British design, innovation, and quality UK manufacture.”
Pashley was founded in 1926, making bikes and trikes for both the consumer and commercial markets from its factory in Birmingham until the mid-1960s, when it relocated to its current premises in Stratford. In 1994 the Williams family took on majority ownership of the business from the Pashley family and remain the main shareholders to this day.
The crowdfund is currently in the pre-registration stage, launching to those who have pre-registered their interest on November 9, followed by the public launch on November 16.
