Friday, 29 March 2024
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Cargo bike brand Urvis completes €410,000 raise with car biz cash in the mix

Polish cargo bike label Urvis has concluded a second investment round, adding €410,000 to the company’s books for investment in ramping up delivery of its “long john” style bikes.

One of the investors who believed in the new logistics model and invested in Urvis is Adam Smorawinski. Despite his family background in the car dealership business, he saw the potential for developing the bicycle transportation market, according to Urvis.

Adam said of his reasoning for diversifying into cargo bikes: “Cargo bikes address many of the challenges of cities, such as air pollution and traffic congestion. From the user’s point of view, the total cost of ownership of such a vehicle is significantly lower than of a car – really not inferior in practicality. When companies are forced to optimize, replacing part of the delivery fleet with a cargo bike for many will become a rational solution. The problem of keeping a car at home is no different. A cargo bike equipped with space to carry people is able to completely replace a car, for example, taking children to school or doing a lot of shopping.”

Urvis points to a University of Westminster study from Dr. Ersilia Verlingheri last year, that proved a cargo bike is 1.6 times faster than a van to make deliveries. Using GPS she was able to demonstrate that the bikes also had a higher average speed (in the test ground of London). Other studies have reached the same conclusions.

Pawel Raja, Urvis Bike CEO said of the reasons for the raise: “In Europe, the cargo bike boom has already begun. UK sales of such vehicles have increased by 37% in 12 months. Similar trends can be seen in the Netherlands or Germany, and we believe Poland could be next. Brands such as Fyrtel.Market, Stuart, Stava and Hop.City have already made deliveries with our bikes. And now we have closed the second investment round, with contributions from more than a dozen private investors.”

A year ago, the company raised €205,000 (PLN 1 million) from the ASI Podlasie fund managed by Krakow’s based Bitspiration Booster. This allowed to launch the first Urvis Bike model. It is available for purchase (EUR 4.200), lease and also in a subscription model. The bike has a load capacity of up to 150 kg and the range with 1 battery is about 70 km. The core of the Urvis Bike is an original steel frame developed and manufactured in Poland. Other components come from Shimano (drivetrain), Magura (brakes), Schwalbe (tyres) and Bafang (rear wheel drive motor and battery).

Several Polish business angels backed the startup in this round, including i.a. Andrzej Sykulski, Adam Smorawiński, Michał Kwiatkowski, Łukasz Adziński, Marcin Sadlej, Michał Paschalis, Grzegorz Kapusta, Michał Laskowski, Piotr Adam Cieślik, Zofia Dzik, Michał Romanowski, Andrzej Targosz and Wojciech Burkot.