Reinventing the wheel

Cycling enjoyed a new-found popularity during lockdown, with weekend activities increasing by as much as 200%. And one company that had already been working tirelessly to get more families on two wheels is Bike Club.

Founded in 2016 by London-based parents, James Symes and Alexandra Rico-Lloyd, Bike Club makes high-quality bikes more accessible to parents. As the UK’s first monthly kids’ bike subscription service, Bike Club helps parents be sure their child always has the perfect-sized bike. This eliminates waste and encourages more children into the activity.

In July 2021, Triple Point’s Structured Finance Team announced a £7.5m debt facility funding into Bike Club. “Demand for cycling is at its highest level in decades”, says Gavin Maitland-Smith who leads the Structured Finance Team, alongside Demetrios Hadjigeorgiou, “As families look to access high-quality cycling equipment through easy-to-manage payments, more and more people are seeing the value of a subscription-based service.”

The Structured Finance Team provides a range of facilities to support trading businesses manage their working capital cycle more efficiently. During the pandemic the team has provided support to a diverse borrower base including a regional food retailer, a UK-based engineering group with global operations and a national TV channel.

Maitland-Smith holds a practising certificate as a solicitor, while Hadjigeorgiou is a chartered accountant with years of insolvency and restructuring experience. The pair have worked together for over twenty years on working capital transactions as both advisors and lenders. The team provides facilities specifically secured against assets and income streams to provide working capital or project-based solutions for SMEs, as well as wholesale facilities to other lenders.

Bike Club was the perfect project for the team, who spotted a fundamentally good business idea – a subscription model that made lots of sense and had wide-ranging appeal to consumers – that had great ESG (environmental, social and governance) fundamentals as well, with a focus on getting more and more kids (and their parents) into exercise and spending time outdoors, whilst at the same time cementing the idea that bikes should be treated sustainably rather than being viewed as a disposable item.

The £7.5m debt facility will enable Bike Club to achieve significant growth though bike and customer acquisition in the next 12-24 months, enhancing the value of the business and solidifying the company’s dominant position as market leader.

COVID has had very diverse effects on the businesses Triple Point works with, either from supply chain issues, changing safety requirements in the factory premises or, in the case of Bike Club, positively increasing demand. “All of our borrowers reacted efficiently and pragmatically to the challenges they faced and we were pleased to support a number of new deals during the period,” says Maitland-Smith.

The Structured Finance Team is looking forward to continuing to grow the book and supporting a wide variety of borrowers in the coming year. Says Maitland-Smith, “We believe that too often the need to work outside the restrictive formulas and products other lenders offer mean that great British businesses are not supported as they should be. We relish the opportunity of finding the right facilities to support exciting businesses at every stage of their development.”

From The Bike Club’s point of view, the partnership made a lot of sense. Says James Symes, “The COVID-19 Pandemic has seen a huge increase in family cycling, so we’re delighted to be working with Triple Point in order to meet growing customer demand and give thousands of families access to high-quality bikes and equipment. Bike Club have already inspired over 40,000 young cyclists across the UK to get out on two wheels, and the solution that the team at Triple Point put together will allow us to significantly increase that number.”

 

Triple Point's Leasing and Lending businesses are well-capitalized, well resourced, and liquid. The team remains committed to helping borrowers find their way through challenging times and enabling them to maximise their growth potential. Find out more here.