Manufacturer of Bike-Pulled Delivery Containers Announces $5 Million in Funding, New CEO

A bicycle-pulled cargo container made by Pasadena-based URB-E is pictured in a photo provided by the company.

A Pasadena-based company that produces foldable, bicycle-powered containers for urban deliveries has announced it has raised $5 million in funding, as well as named a new CEO.

URB-E, which seeks to replace trucks with its eco-friendly and compact delivery containers, raised the capital in a Series A round of funding led by UBS Group, the company said in a written statement issued earlier this month.

“URB-E will use the funding to further scale its local delivery networks to meet demand from its existing clients, as well as from cities looking to reduce traffic and emissions by moving to a containerized delivery solution,” the statement said.

The company also announced the appointment of Charles Jolley as CEO. Jolley is an entrepreneur who has co-founded two other businesses, Ozlo and Strobe, which have been acquired by Facebook, according to URB-E.

“From the start, I saw URB-E’s potential to completely change how we think about local delivery,” Jolley said. “On average, customers are moving from one package a week to one or two a day, and more delivery trucks — even electric vehicles at five times the cost of our solution — clearly aren’t the right solution. Our network-based solution shrinks down containers and logistics for congested spaces to provide the most efficient option to meet the huge growth in last-mile delivery.”

The containers, which were designed by ex-Porsche and Fisker engineer Sven Etzelsberger, are already in widespread use in New York, the URB-E representatives said. Twenty of the folded containers can fit into a single parking space.

Etzelsberger, URB-E co-founder and chief technology officer, said the company’s containers can save customers money, in addition to being a much greener alternative to traditional trucks.

“Existing delivery solutions focus on putting more vehicles on the roads of our cities. URB-E is learning from the shipping world and containerizing to make pedal power more efficient than trucks,” he said. “URB-E’s containers are better for couriers, companies, traffic, parking, and the environment.”

More information on URB-E is available on the company’s website at urb-e.com.