Cargo bike delivery firm Zedify has plans to triple its turnover this year thanks to a new £4 million investment, which will help the firm accelerate growth in the UK by expanding into more cities and launch a new Midlands hub in October this year.
The company also plans to use the investment to enhance its technology and significantly expand its teams of riders, sales and customer care staff. Zedify expects to create 80 new jobs, including 20 in the new Midlands hub.
The funding was provided by Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, Mercia Ventures which was investing from its own funds and from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), and Green Angel Ventures.
About Zedify
Founded in 2018, Zedify works with major retail brands including Zara along with parcel carriers and independent businesses to provide more sustainable last mile deliveries using cargo bikes, which have been shown to save more than 80% of CO2e emissions per kilometre compared to electric vans.
The firm currently operates in Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Norwich and Plymouth. It has plans to expand its operations to deliver to 51 UK towns and cities within the next five years.
“We are seeing a real appetite from leading retail brands and UK-wide businesses looking to transform their last mile logistics and invest in more sustainable delivery models, which is why we have ambitious plans to triple in size this year,” said Rob King, co-founder and CEO of Zedify. “This new investment will be paramount to that growth, helping us scale to meet the needs of our rapidly expanding customer base.”
Zedify’s growth
The latest funding round follows a £5 million investment from Barclays, Mercia and Green Angel in March 2023. Since then, the company has almost doubled the size of its team from 113 to 209 and signed up national brands including Hello Fresh, Selfridges and Veja.
Gavin Chapman, Co-Head of Principal Investments at Barclays, added: “The transition to net zero emission for many sectors is not as simple as swapping from high-emitting fuels to renewables, and this is particularly true of the logistics industry. Zedify have identified that hyper-local delivery models are needed, in combination with low-carbon transport, to decarbonise the industry, reducing pollution within the UK’s cities.”
