London e-bike platform gears up for Spring launch with £1.27m investment

A London e-bike platform will launch in Spring 2021 after raising £1.27m through a crowdfunding campaign.

HumanForest’s crowdfunding campaign attracted over 500 shareholders from more than 25 countries around the world.

The investment will enable the company to expand its fleet of e-bikes and expand into another European city in 2022.

The London launch follows a trial in summer 2020 where 200 e-bikes were distributed to two London boroughs. The 2021 launch will increase that number to 1,500 dockless bikes across the capital.

Agustin Guilisasti, CEO and founder, commented: “I would like to offer a warm welcome to HumanForest’s 523 new shareholders.

“It gives me and the whole team great excitement to know that so many people from all around the world support HumanForest in its mission to reforest the world, one e-bike at a time!”

HumanForest’s business model is based on three differentiated sources of revenue: users paying for rides, a digital marketing platform, and corporate subscriptions.

After a free daily 10 minute ride, users pay 15p a minute to continue their journey. Partner companies pay to advertise their brand on the HumanForest digital platform, and companies pay to offer their employees further minutes for the HumanForest fleet.

Caroline Seton, head of growth, added: “Our business model is unique and we believe this is one of the key reasons that we’ve had such a successful crowdfunding campaign.

“Investors recognise that HumanForest is poised for strong future growth both in terms of revenue and user uptake.”

Caroline continued: “Our trial was a positive indicator that HumanForest is onto something great – 10k users joined our community and The Financial Times, Rude Health and Whole Food Market partnered with us.”

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