BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Cycling’s love affair with crowdfunding shows no sign of abating, with Sportif Magazine turning to the public for cash to expand.
Sportif Magazine is a free title, funded through advertising, dedicated to mass participation cycling and has turned to crowdfunding to "take a giant leap towards…being the world’s best Sportive and Gran Fondo title". It is inititally looking for £15,000 so it can move from 52 to 68 pages, with a digital version of the mag available too.
Sportif follows Brixton Cycles, Vulpine, Voxwomen, the Bicycle Academy and countless others from the cycle world who’ve turned to crowdfunding. Kickstarter is perhaps the best known of the crowdfunding sites and the firm told BikeBiz this summer that it has seen over $32 million pledged to bike projects in six years.
Sportif mag was first published 18 months ago by Richard Hallett, David Harmon and Josephine Marsh. Its network of distributors includes independent retailers and events that saw distribution peak at 33,600 this summer, according to the mag.
"We’ve worked hard to establish the very best title for this huge community of cyclists," said Josephine Marsh, Campaign Co-ordinator. "We’ve kept our independence despite being an advertising funded magazine and we feel there is a place for our style of magazine amongst people who just love to ride their bike."
