{"id":223289,"date":"2025-06-29T06:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T06:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/223289\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T06:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T06:22:11","slug":"we-are-trying-to-ensure-e-bikes-are-better-for-london-users-and-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/223289\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We are trying to ensure e-bikes are better for London, users and the planet’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CEO CEO Agustin Guilisasti saw a gap in the market with affordable e-bike solutions when he arrived in London. \"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Six years ago, Agustin Guilisasti was living in west London and studying for a master\u2019s in data science across the city at South Bank University.<\/p>\n

The Chilean had only envisaged staying in London for a year, but instead sensed a \u201cbig opportunity\u201d with bike travel after becoming frustrated with expensive cycle hire options at the time.<\/p>\n

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs \u2013 Guilisasti\u2019s grandfather set up Concha y Toro, the largest wine-growing company in Latin America \u2013 he had been part of the founding team at Cabify, the unicorn ride-hailing firm which was the first in its sector to offset carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

With a sustainability angle in mind, Guilisasti, along with two co-founders, PR expert Caroline Seton and marketing guru Michael Stewart, launched micromobility start-up Human Forest.<\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>We sold a hand cream every 36 seconds after appearing on This Morning<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

They launched their e-bike service with a difference to competitors Lime and Santander Cycles by offering the first 10 minutes free every day for users. \u201cIt was cheaper than Lime and the Tube and was affordable for everyone. There was no excuse not to use e-bikes,\u201d says Guilisasti.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the company tested 200 bikes in Islington, north London, and growth has sped along to five years later with 15,000 currently on London\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n

Billed as the capital\u2019s most affordable e-bike provider and now called Forest, the company provides over one million customers across 14 boroughs.<\/p>\n

\"Forest's E-bike provider Forest says the business is well-positioned to expand in London and beyond. <\/p>\n

According to data, Londoners are now taking 1.33 million cycling trips every day, up by over a quarter since pre-COVID levels, while shared e-bike trips at industry leader Lime and Forest account for one in six rides into the capital.<\/p>\n

Yet, says Guilisasti, the issue of e-bike parking has remained stagnant.<\/p>\n

Dame Joan Collins recently took to social media to lambast ‘loutish’ Lime e-bike riders blocking pavements, while councils are slowly introducing compulsory bay-only parking models following agreements with hire companies.<\/p>\n

Guilisasti says it has incentives for riders to park in specific spots with the lure of extra minutes and uses AI to predict where the best locations are for both consumers and London itself. \u201cWe know where they [bikes] are and where there are too many of them,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>The boss who has found \u2018nature\u2019s answer to plastic\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to work with the authorities, share the data and be responsible in how we manage the whole operation. Lime hasn\u2019t done that well and we are paying as an industry a little bit because of that. There is a responsibility for the boroughs also to open more space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues <\/p>\n

The Chilean native says he is \u201cexcited\u201d over the recent news from the London mayor that part of Oxford Street will see a car ban and also highlights how Forest e-bikes are available through the cycle-to-work scheme. Employees can take up an offer of less than \u00a31 per day.<\/p>\n

Forest employs 71 staff and around 300 agency seasonal staff through the year. Meanwhile, the company\u2019s mission is also laid bare on its website, where an asterisk takes centre stage in ‘c*r’ to facilitate a shift away from vehicles in London.<\/p>\n

\"City Forest e-bikes parked at Cornhill in the City of London. \u00b7 Maureen McLean <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to simulate each time you ride on a Forest, you save ‘x’ amount of CO2,” adds Guilisasti. “We are trying step by step to ensure it is better for the city, users and the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forest, which says it recycles almost 70% of broken bike parts, has raised a total of \u00a325m in investment to date, while revenues have jumped from \u00a37.4m in 2023 to nearly \u00a330m last year. Guilisasti forecasts revenues to double this year.<\/p>\n

Revenue lines include brand tie-ups for advertising on Forest\u2019s app, the latest partnership being Deliveroo, with the food delivery giant\u2019s logo featuring on e-bikes and video adverts active on the app. \u201cWe have done things differently to our competitors and that has helped give us profitability,\u201d says Guilisasti.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>The Briton who invented Alexa is now helping to make AI trustworthy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The company has also implemented an airline-style reciprocal approach with global mobility partners, whose users can use Forest bikes in London akin to Lime\u2019s partnership with Uber.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are made in London but for the rest of the world we are doing alliances which makes more sense for now,\u201d says Guilisasti, after Forest had tendered to bring its model to Paris earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plan is to expand operations to the west of London. We need to put all our effort into growing in London and become one of the biggest players.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom day one we have had sustainable mobility for everyone and we have kept to that mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to build a brand for longevity<\/strong><\/p>\n

My advice is to find something that generates value to the users. The reason why people love Forest is that it’s affordable, sustainable and we are doing something a little bit different to the rest.<\/p>\n

Pedal, pedal, pedal. You need to be clear of your mission and to continue believing in it and if you have a value behind it. Don\u2019t try to reinvent the wheel \u2013 be simple.<\/p>\n

\"Agustin Agustin Guilisasti, left, with Forest co-founders Caroline Seton and Michael Stewart. <\/p>\n

Try to do things that are win-win. If you have a product or service where everyone wins you won\u2019t need to spend money investing in the users. We have spent almost zero in acquisition and behind that we have something in our brand that is good for consumers.<\/p>\n

Relationships in life are everything. When you are in the office you do more things and you can work faster.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for <\/strong>Apple<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>Androi<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CEO Agustin Guilisasti saw a gap in the market with affordable e-bike solutions when he arrived in London.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[88102,748,393,4884,88103,19546,257,88104,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-223289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-agustin-guilisasti","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-human-forest","13":"tag-lime","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-michael-stewart","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114765217659893536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}