ezBike, a Pakistani electric mobility startup, has raised $1 million in a pre-seed round.
ezBike claims to have onboarded over 100,000 clients since its launch, who can reserve an ezBike stationed across Islamabad.
Users use the ezBike app to locate the bikes and reserve and operate the electric scooters on their own.
“We were able to reach this amount of users without spending any money on promotion, which validates our concept,” says Muhammad Hadi, the company’s CEO.
He further added that because ezBike scooters are electric, they cost 30% less than the average bike trip on non-electric services.
“We believe we are very well positioned to handle the broader market potential of migrating Pakistan to electric vehicles inside 2 wheelers,” says Hadi, citing competence in building, operating, and servicing electric scooters at scale. “This does not have to happen solely through a sharing service, which is why the pre-seed we’ve raised and the purposes of this funding are to launch our brand of electric scooters, which will be available for purchase starting this summer.”
“Pakistan has 22 million motorcycles registered, with 2 million sold each year. “We estimate the electric car industry to be a $20 billion opportunity,” adds Hadi. “However, despite very supportive regulatory and tax policies in Pakistan, electric vehicles have not been able to develop at a large rate.”
He believes the expensive cost of electric scooters is to blame for their slow growth.
As a result, the money will be utilized to create an ecosystem for electric two-wheelers, which will include an electric scooter assembly facility and low-cost lithium-ion battery production, lowering the cost of electric scooters for users.
“We’re also putting together a battery swapping network where clients may rent batteries.”
“What this means is that a client may buy an ezBike for 80% less than a comparable petrol motorcycle and then operate it for 50% less than a comparable motorcycle.”
The startup wants to start selling electric scooters this summer and will first test its solution with one of Pakistan’s largest delivery companies.
“We are proud to back the ezBike founders as they focus on addressing the urgent and significant issue of climate change and pollution in Pakistan while providing consumers affordable options to purchase and operate electric scooters,” said Misbah Naqvi, co-founder, and general partner at i2i Ventures. We are thrilled about Hadi and Ali’s ambitions since they have proven a strong understanding of the EV opportunity and how to fulfill the needs of the Pakistani consumer.”
Image Credit: ezBike
