Meet the e-scooter company primed to take over London
The 2nd business in this round of our Backing British Businesses series is UK leader in micro-mobility; Ginger. Ginger offers electric scooters in key cities across the UK.
Founded in 2018 by Paul Hodgins, Ginger aims to modernise “last mile” transport with small, clean, low speed electric vehicles including e-scooters and e-bikes.
In July, Ginger began a partnership with Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and the Combined Authority, with 100 e-Scooters being trialled as a new and sustainable mode of transport.
The company wanted to be among the first to take advantage of new laws allowing people to commute more cheaply, conveniently and safely on electric scooters, with zero carbon emissions.
Newable is the delivery partner for several of Innovate UK’s programmes, including Enterprise Europe Network.
When the company began working with Innovation Advisor David Zerny in January 2020, it had two main business objectives:
First, they wanted to win a place on one of the first e-Scooter trials in the UK, based around Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.
Second, they needed to ensure their business model was robust and viable for the trials.
David helped to review the Ginger business model and pointed them to the Coronavirus Business Interruption and Bounce Back Loan schemes (CBILS & BBLS). He also made introductions to local authorities in Staffordshire. Ginger has since launched in Milton Keynes and Stafford as well as in Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, and Redcar.
David and the team at Newable have been great. Extremely positive, and have helped us in multiple ways with advice and introductions.
Ginger has increased its headcount significantly this year and we will recruit considerably more to join our team. Revenue has ramped up, and we have raised our target investment.
Paul Hodgins
CEO, Ginger
Since last July, Ginger have doubled turnover, recruited five staff, gained £150,000 in investment and successfully applied for a CBILS Loan of £500,000. This means that they now have the opportunity to demonstrate how well the model works, where adjustments may be required, and how to scale up.
We look forward to helping Ginger as they win investment and scale-up.