Cycle clothing company has smashed its £500,000 crowd funding target and has now raised £636,090 from 327 individual investors in five days.
The extraordinary speed with which they have raised funds has surprised both the company and other observers of the still nascent crowd funding industry. Vulpine chief executive Nick Hussey said: "It is pretty amazing to do it all in 5 days, the support has blown me away. Last week, I was absolutely bricking it because we've never done this before - Crowd funding is still relatively new and it's definitely new to us. But we put absolutely everything into it and we're so grateful that people have shared our passion and vision in investing."
He added: "We have a really engaged audience of customers and people both inside and outside of cycling really care about the brand and the story. We've had loads of lovely messages off people who have wanted to be part of Vulpine before and now there's been a structure and opportunity to do it. We're in such a good position now, not just because of the funding but because of the skills, contacts and offers of help and expertise that have come from investors."
Vulpine plan to use the funds to create a Made In Britain collection, increase sales in South Korea and Japan and the United States and expand its HOY Vulpine collection, which is made in collaboration with Sir Chris Hoy. They have raised the funds at a valuation of £5 million for the loss making three year old company.
Although Vulpine originally aimed to raise half a million pounds, they have raised the amount they are willing to take to £1 million, in a process known as overfunding. With 24 days left before the Crowdcube process closes, it looks likely they will raise the full amount.
Hussey explained the reason to take more funds: "We are going to see how far we can go while agreeing a plan internally for greater funding. What we're not going to do is rush into spending the money. In the clothing business, having cash gives confidence in the company from suppliers and de-risks the company, giving more flexibility with cash in the bank.
"I think it's really interesting what this says about cycling. We've found cycling is a massive buzzword in the financial sector. I continue to find it amazing how cycling continues to grow - I've been a cyclist across the last four decades. Before, it was weird, but now people say 'Why don't we go for a ride?' when they want to do business."
The success of the Vulpine fund raising, which was made through the Crowdcube platform, is likely to see other cycling brands attempt to attract new investors in the same way.
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