Wheelys Cafe Plans $2 Mln A Round

Wheelys Inc, a Swedish Y Combinator startup operating bike cafes in 50 countries, plans to raise $2 million A round later this year, it said in its new crowdfunding campaign.

The Wheelys Café campaign launched on FundedByMe on Monday and raised in the first day 370,000 euros, more than double of its target.

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Wheelys Café tries to lower the barrier to entry into cafe business – while franchising Starbucks or any other major brands could cost hundreds of thousands, Wheelys sells “a high-tech mobile café” for a few thousand dollars.

“The Wheelys campaign reached their crowdfunding goal in record time proving that despite the turbulence in the financial markets, crowdfunding truly is established as a viable alternative for good companies to whet the investor appetite, which sends a positive signal to other entrepreneurs and investors,” says FundedByMe COO Pontus Frohde. “We hope that even if the economy is set for a bumpy ride, this campaign proves that good entrepreneurs can still get funding from the crowd.”

It has used crowdfunding to kickstart its global ambitions, raising more than $300,000 last year on Indiegogo and on top of that it closed a $2.5 million seed round in early 2016.