Fettle fundraise to double firm’s workshop tally in 2022

Fettle, the workshop only chain formerly known as Handlebars, has raised £1.5 million in cash from over 1,000 investors in a crowdfunding effort.

In light of the investment, Fettle will be progressing plans to more than double the number of workshops in the UK during 2022, reaching beyond London, whilst also making significant improvements to recruitment, reward and training of existing team members. Tech remains central to the company’s service offering, and Fettle will also be making further improvements to the Fettle app and website.

The company will also be growing fettleBusiness partnerships, backing organisations that support cycling.

Fettle was founded in 2019, by Jeyda Heselton who claims to have spotted a gap in the market for a tech driven bike service, following a boom in the UK cycling scene. Hesleton brought to the project learnings from her time working on digital parking service JustPark.

Of her transition into the cycling world she said: “The data was staggering. Within eight years, bikes are projected to outsell cars in Europe by two-to-one but we’re heading into a crisis, with one in ten local bike shops closing each year. Having always worked in tech start-ups, with the mission of making the customer’s journey as frictionless as possible, I was shocked at the experience cyclists had, gathering first-hand the long queues, head-scratching jargon, hidden extras, bill shock, inconvenient locations and unnecessary hassle.”

The workshop business now aims to launch up to 90 locations over the next five years, bringing affordable and tech-savvy bicycle repair to locations across the UK.