An electric cargo bike logistics company which counts the fashion giant Zara among its partners has launched an urgent hunt for new backers.

Sky News has learnt that Zedify, which has raised millions of pounds from investors including Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, is working with Interpath Advisory on a review of its financing options.

Zedify claims to be the UK’s largest cargo bike logistics company.

It is said to be exploring options to secure new funding on an accelerated basis.

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Founded in 2018, the company works with retail brands, as well as parcel carriers and independent businesses, to offer sustainable deliveries using cargo bikes.

Zedify operates from 10 logistics hubs across the UK, with the latest launched in Birmingham at the start of November.

It says it aims to be active in 50 UK cities in the next five years. The company employs about 130 people.

Rob King, Zedify’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said: “As we continue with our mission of disrupting the traditional logistics model by creating a more sustainable alternative to last-mile delivery services, we are seeking investment partners who can support us as we continue to scale our business, supporting more customers in additional cities around the UK.”

Other existing Zedify backers include Green Angel Syndicate and Prova.

Retail giants including Asda, Marks & Spencer, Primark and Tesco will mount a new year campaign to warn Rachel Reeves that plans to hike business rates on larger shops will put jobs and stores under threat.

Sky News has learnt that some of Britain’s biggest chains – which also include J Sainsbury, Morrisons and Kingfisher-owned B&Q – have agreed to revive a group called the Retail Jobs Alliance (RJA).

Sources said the RJA, which was established to push for reform of Britain’s archaic business rates regime, is expected to engage with the Treasury in the coming weeks to say that a wave of tax rises and regulatory changes will threaten investment by major retailers in economically deprived areas of the country.

They intend to produce analysis showing many of the stores with so-called rateable values above a new £500,000 threshold are located in areas which rely on retailers for employment opportunities.

The revamped coalition is expected to be launched in January and is likely to include other high street names, according to insiders.

It is said to be coordinating its plans with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the industry’s leading trade body.

In total, the RJA’s members employ more than a million people across Britain and account for a significant proportion of the stores with rateable values in excess of the proposed threshold.

One source close to the group’s plans said it intended to highlight that the higher business rates multiplier contradicted Labour’s manifesto pledge to “[level] the playing field between high street and online retailers”.

The latest intervention by retail bosses will come after weeks of vocal complaints about the impact of Ms Reeves’s maiden budget on the sector.

Last month, a letter signed by dozens of industry chiefs including from Boots and Next said the budget would pile £7bn of extra costs on to them.

These included a £2.3bn hit from changes to employers’ national insurance, £2.73bn from an increase in the national living wage and a £2bn packaging levy bill.

Retailers have since queued up to warn that consumers will face rising prices when the tax changes come into force in April.

Stuart Machin, the M&S chief executive, and Andrew Higginson, the JD Sports Fashion and BRC chair, have been among those publicly critical of the new measures.

Tesco alone faces having to pay £1bn in extra employer national insurance contributions during this parliament.

This week, ShoeZone, a footwear chain, said it would close 20 shops as a result of poor trading and the increased costs announced in the budget.

The hospitality industry has also highlighted the possibility of price hikes and job losses after the chancellor delivered her statement on 30 October.

In response to the growing business backlash, Ms Reeves told the CBI’s annual conference last month that she was “not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes”.

The RJA was initially put together in 2022 by WPI Strategy, a London-based public affairs firm.

None of the members of the RJA contacted by Sky News this weekend would comment.

The UK’s retail sales recovery was smaller than expected in the key Christmas shopping month of November, official figures show.

Retail sales rose just 0.2% last month despite discounting events in the run-up to Black Friday. It followed a 0.7% fall seen in October, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Sales growth of 0.5% had been forecast by economists.

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Behind the fall was a steep drop in clothing sales, which fell 2.6% to the lowest level since the COVID lockdown month of January 2022.

Sales have still not recovered to levels before the pandemic. Compared with February 2020, volumes are down 1.6%.

It was economic rather than weather factors behind this as retailers told the ONS they faced tough trading conditions.

For the first time in three months, however, there was a boost in food store sales, and supermarkets in particular. It was also a good month for household goods retailers, most notably furniture shops, the ONS said.

Clothes became more expensive in November, data from earlier this week demonstrated, and it was these price rises that contributed to overall inflation rising again – topping 2.6%.

Retail sales figures are of significance as the data measures household consumption, the largest expenditure across the UK economy.

The data can also help track how consumers feel about their finances and the economy more broadly.

Industry body the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said higher energy bills and low consumer sentiment impacted spending.

The BRC’s director of insight Kris Hamer said it was a “shaky” start to the festive season.

Shoppers were holding off on purchases until full Black Friday offers kicked in, he added.

The period in question covers discounting coming up to Black Friday but not the actual Friday itself as the ONS examined the four weeks from 27 October to 23 November.