Image: Modmo
With fresh backing, the start-up plans to expand its teams in Vietnam and Dublin.
Electric bike maker Modmo has received a €5m investment from Irish property developer Sean Mulryan to expand its business.
The start-up has now secured a total of €8.7m in seed funding. This includes the backing from Ballymore Group CEO Mulryan, in addition to €2.7m raised last September and €1m in March from a group of angel investors.
Modmo was founded by Irish entrepreneur Jack O’Sullivan. He said the latest funding will “accelerate our goal of getting an e-bike in every household in Europe”. The company plans to expand into new markets such as North America this year, with the opening of its first dealership in Canada set for March.
The investment will also help Modmo expand its headcount. It currently has 35 engineers based at its headquarters in Vietnam and expects that number to exceed 100 this year. Last year, O’Sullivan set up a new Dublin-based team focused on sales, marketing and support. This team currently has 10 people and there are plans to expand to 30 this year.
The electric bike company currently delivers to eight European countries, with Germany making up 85pc of its sales. Modmo claims to have a vast network in Germany that can offer servicing anywhere in the country within 48 hours.
“Germany will still be our key market this year,” O’Sullivan told The Irish Times. “It is pretty much the centre of the universe for e-bikes sales and I expect it will represent about 60 to 70pc of sales in 2022.”
He also told The Irish Times that the company’s partnership with Mulryan could lead to Modmo bikes being used at various development sites. The Ballymore Group has around 80,000 bike parking spaces planned across its developments, and some of these could be reserved for Modmo’s Saigon e-bikes.
“The future cities will have transport sectors powered predominately by electrification,” Mulryan said. “Electric bikes are already playing a role and are fast becoming one of the most popular modes of urban transport throughout Europe.”
Previously a SiliconRepublic.com Start-up of the Week, Modmo was founded in 2019 when O’Sullivan moved to Vietnam to make “the best bike in the world”. The company has now developed bikes with a range of up to 200km on a single charge.
“Elon Musk believes that we need to move roads underground, but I think we need to shift towards personal modes of transport,” he told SiliconRepublic.com in 2019.
“If everyone was using our e-bikes for urban transport and companies began using our cargo bikes for transport and delivery, there would be a drastic reduction in congestion and vehicle-emitted pollution.”
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