Funds will be used to support WeFlex’s national expansion and rollout of electric vehicles
Investment follows Triple Point’s increasing commitment to targeting firms with an environmental and societal impact
Triple Point Investment Management yesterday announced its £10m facility into WeFlex, a leading provider of vehicles to the Ride-Hailing market in the UK. Having worked with the team at Weflex for the past 5 years, Triple Point is delighted to back their growth and development in the UK. The funds will be used by WeFlex to further increase its operations across the country, expand its fleet of electric vehicles, as well as other hybrids to further support the green initiatives in the UK ride-hailing market.
WeFlex is a leading platform providing flexible and affordable Public Carriage Office (PCO) Car Finance & Rental for the world’s leading ride hailing services, including Uber, Bolt, Kapten, Ola, Wheely and ViaVan. With over 60% of WeFlex’s fleet comprised of alternative fuelled (Hybrids, Plug-In-Hybrid and Electric), WeFlex is tapping into the recent demand for eco-friendly transport in the UK’s biggest cities. WeFlex offers flexible car finance with low upfront deposits, weekly payments, and the ability for a customer to cancel at any time with only 4 weeks notice with only minimal termination fees.
Triple Point’s investment will help WeFlex finance a new fleet of the 100% electric Nissan Leaf, following Uber’s recent deal with Nissan to help drivers in London switch to fully electric vehicles, as part of the firm’s push to make all its journeys in the capital emission-free by 2025. Nissan will make 2,000 of its Sunderland-made electric Leaf’s available via WeFlex to Uber drivers, which will help support regeneration in the UK car manufacturing industry.
The finance will also support WeFlex’s plan to double its fleet to 1,400 vehicles over the next year, as the firm aims to become the largest provider of cars to the Ride-Hailing market. This comes at a time of fast-growth for the company. It has just taken up new office space in Birmingham and is continuing to scale up in the Midlands and London and further expand to other major UK cities in 2020 to meet the rising demand for flexible car finance on low-or-zero emission cars in the ride-hailing industry.
From January this year, Transport for London no longer grant new licences to new private hire vehicles that are not zero emission capable. Also, Uber has implemented a drive to tackle air pollution with its Clean Air Fund. From last year, a ‘clean air fee’ of 15p per mile is included on every trip booked through the Uber app in London – every penny of which will go towards helping drivers to upgrade into an electric vehicle as well as other clean air initiatives.
Triple Point’s investment supports its broader push to back firms making an impact, while targeting strong and robust, risk-adjusted returns for investors.
Neil Richards, Partner and Head of Leasing and Lending at Triple Point commented: “We are absolutely delighted to announce our £10m facility for WeFlex. With the ride-hailing industry undergoing a significant transformation, focused on sustainability, WeFlex is perfectly placed to help businesses and drivers in the sector seeking to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the gig economy, while supporting the excellent initiatives for cleaner, greener cities. The investment fits well with our strategy to invest in companies making a difference, which can also provide investors strong, robust returns.”
Nicko Williamson, CEO and Founder at WeFlex commented: “Triple Point’s support of WeFlex has been invaluable. Having supported WeFlex since inception the new Triple Point facility allows WeFlex to further scale across the UK to meet the demand from this rapidly evolving sector. The flexibility of the Triple Point facility works with the needs of our business, allowing us to move quickly to meet customer demand. We look forward to continuing to work with the team at Triple Point for many years to come as they continue to support the evolution of our business”.
