Magway pulls in over £1m from Crowdcube campaign
British e-commerce delivery startup Magway has exceeded an initial £750,000 crowdfunding target.
The company has crossed through the £1 million mark on Crowdcube and has to date attracted over 1,700 investors willing to back its underground online retail delivery network.
Anna Daroy, MD at Magway, which is co-funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, says: “Without a significant step change in managing how billions of parcels and goods reach our doors, delivery traffic will continue to increase along with the levels of toxic air we breathe.”
“As the first major economy in the world to legally commit to zero emissions by 2050, the UK government has taken positive steps towards reducing global warming, but more can be done and ‘business as usual’ won’t cut it.”
Magway, she adds, represents a step change in the way we currently deliver goods. “We believe that built at scale, we could help reduce the UK’s C02 emissions by six million tonnes per annum. That’s the equivalent to a third of the delivery vehicle emissions in the UK.”
The plan is to initially provide short delivery routes for airports such as Heathrow and Stansted, helping to alleviate freight traffic. Construction of a wider UK network of pipes, spanning hundreds of kilometres, is expected to start in 2023.