Calavera Limited, initially branded as Out of Thin Air (OOTA), is a self-styled “engineering collective” aiming to solve global supply chain issues in the premium bike market through 3D printing.

Many incumbent performance cycle brands are dependent on Chinese manufacturers for components. They often struggle to respond effectively to evolving demands of consumers, leading to very long lead times for production. Bikes are then shipped globally leaving a large carbon footprint with increasing costs and delays for the customer.

OOTA plans to completely change how high-end leisure bikes are made and sold with scalable 3D printing. Utilising laser additive manufacturing (LAM), a specific type of 3D printing, the team plan to locally print and quickly provide custom bicycles direct to consumers.

OOTA’s ability to design these bikes comes from its management team who were crucial in designing Team GB’s revolutionary track bikes for the London 2012 Olympics. The team were key in designing bikes which have over 100 Olympic medals and Tour de France stage wins, highlighting the expected quality of the product. They also designed and printed the bike which helped Filippo Ganna set the Hour Record in 2022.

They are now raising their first, post-friends-and-family, round of SEIS-/EIS-qualifying equity with a target of £500k. They have already raised £250k SEIS investment (including £55k from Growthdeck).

Our network now has the opportunity to invest £185k EIS-qualifying funding to allow OOTA to complete the R&D phase and be ready for full commercial roll-out. You can find out more about this at our online ‘Meet the Management’ event taking place on Wednesday 7th February at 12:30pm.

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Please join the network or log in to watch the Webinar & Q&A Recording.

This will be a 15-minute presentation, followed by an open Q&A session, with:

Henry Furniss (Co-Founder and CEO), who graduated in business and finance from Durham University and went on to found one of London’s foremost mobile personal training companies which was his focus from 2001–2008. During this time, Henry also regularly wrote fitness features in the national press while appearing on several TV networks like GMTV and the BBC. His latest venture was a custom bicycle brand called WyndyMilla which he successfully exited in December 2019.

Luke Scheybeler (Co-Founder and Creative Director), who co-founded Rapha and Tracksmith, and was pivotal in strategy, brand and marketing decisions which made them industry defining success stories. Rapha was sold to Walmart in 2015 for £200m.

Dimitris Katsanis (OOTA’s 3D printing lead and consultant engineer), who was the foremost member of the ‘Secret Squirrel Club’ who designed and manufactured the 2012 Olympic track bikes that sparked the renaissance of British Cycling. He is the brain behind the latest Dogma & Bolide for Pinarello and the 2020 track bike that saw Jason Kenny become the UK’s most decorated Olympian of all time.

 

Please register below if you would like to join us and we will send you the Zoom link.

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Location: Online