British electric cargo bike manufacturer Electric Assisted Vehicles (EAV) has launched a £7.5 million funding drive to help it expand further in the future – including plans for its first consumer model.
The Oxfordshire firm was founded in 2018 and currently offers the 2Cubed, a four-wheel pedal-assist cargo e-bike that can carry a 150kg payload in up to 2000 litres of load space. More than 200 examples of the machines are currently in use by firms including Amazon, FedEx and DPD.
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The built of the £7.5 million funding drive is set to come from existing shareholders, institutions and new investors, but EAV is also aiming to crowd-source a minimum of £750,000 of funding through the online Seedrs platform, to allow individual investors to back the firm. Stakes in the firm on Seedrs will be priced from £20.
EAV currently has around 60 staff. The firm says that it is currently in talks with a “leading global OEM [manufacturer]” to outsource final assembly of the 2Cubed from late 2023 onwards, which will accelerate production. It is also planning to work with partners to expand further in Europe and the Middle East.
There are also plans for an ‘EAV as a service’ subscription scheme, in which customers will pay a set monthly rate for a bike, insurance and preventative maintenance.
EAV also says it is working on a range of new machines on the eCargo chassis that underpins the 2Cubed, which will include a consumer machine called the EAVme and a two-wheel taxi named EAVgo.
The firm previously used Seedrs to raise funding when it first launched. Adam Barmby, EAV’s founder and boss, said: “We really believe in EAV, our products, vision and our team, and we believe others will too; so we’re giving them a unique opportunity to be a part of something truly special.”
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