An e-bike company founded in India is eyeing the 海角视频 market by launching a new base in Birmingham.
Mumbai-based Calamus has secured a place on the 'Forward' accelerator scheme run by Birmingham Enterprise Community (BEC) and will receive full support to help the firm establish a 海角视频 head office in the city.
It is the first business to be welcomed onto the third cohort of the programme which was initially launched last year and which will help it adapt for the European market.
Calamus has already secured pre-product orders of its newest model worth £460,000 and will start a six-month placement in January at the BEC offices in Alpha Tower, to where it will relocate up to four staff from India, alongside a small group of other start ups.
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The company will also be recruiting for a small number of additional staff members in the city but it is aiming to grow this in the future as well as having a dedicated R&D team based here.
Co-founder and chief executive Nilesh Bothra said: "We're excited to be creating a base in the 海角视频.
"Being here means we can tap into the needs of our customers even better.
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"Europe is our region of highest demand and we want to make sure we exceed customer expectations in terms of the product quality and experience.
"Being involved with the Forward programme is a dream come true.
"It will offer us many perks - providing the right environment and support for growth and allowing us to be part of an active community of established entrepreneurs."
The company has enjoyed growth in sales of its e-bikes during the coronavirus pandemic but has also had to grapple with issues in its supply chain and logistics.
Mr Bothra added: "While the pandemic has certainly posed challenges, we've managed to navigate these and still see a healthy growth in the number of pre-orders received.
"We launched our campaign on (crowdfunding website) Indiegogo last year and from June we started taking pre-orders exclusively through our website and are seeing around a five to ten per cent increase in pre-orders every month."
BEC's chief executive Daniel Evans added: "What we're seeing emerge at the moment, no doubt as a result of Covid-19's impact on the economy, is a wave of new entrepreneurs and start-up businesses that are creating new solutions that challenge what we had always considered 'normal'.
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"This pioneering approach and this fresh perspective on what we want, and in fact demand, from a post-pandemic world is being shaped now and I'm thrilled that BEC is able to provide the support to take these ideas from inception to reality.
"We are tremendously excited to be signing Calamus as the first start-up on our next cohort of the programme.
"I have no doubt that it is going to achieve monumental success here in the 海角视频 and Europe and I know I speak on behalf of the entire BEC team when I say that we cannot wait to see what is in store."