Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and other giants have placed their bets, and this track has become popular!

With its high speed and labor-saving features, the new trend travel product ebike is selling well abroad. Relevant data shows that as early as 2020, the global sales of electric bicycles have reached 7 million, and nearly 80% of them are produced in China. Many investors have also seen the potential of this track and have bet on it. Among them, Tenways, a brand under Shenzhen Shifang Sports Technology Co., Ltd., has won investments from big names such as Tencent and Hillhouse.

Tencent and Hillhouse Capital invest in Tenways brand

Many people are saying this: "In the world of short-distance travel tools, the era of balance bikes is over, now is the era of ebikes and scooters. " This statement is very realistic. People's requirements for short-distance travel tools are changing with the times. While some travel tools are being eliminated, travel tools with new-age characteristics like ebikes, such as high speed, effortless uphill climbing, and low carbon, are on the rise.

Although many people in China don't know much about ebikes, in the European and American markets, ebikes, a new trendy travel product, are selling well. Relevant data show that ebike sales are mainly concentrated in developed countries in Europe and the United States. In 2020, the scale of electric bicycle sales in Europe was 4.7 million, and it is expected that sales in the European market will reach 12 million by 2025. In 2021, the United States sold about 900,000 electric bicycles, and sales are expected to exceed 4.8 million by 2025, with an annual growth rate of more than 50%.

Leading investors have seen the potential of this track. As early as August 2021, Hillhouse Capital led a $128 million financing for Dutch electric bicycle brand VanMoof; in March this year, Gaorong Capital exclusively invested in electric bicycle brand Aventon; in November this year , Tencent and Hillhouse Capital led the investment in ebike brand TenwaysA.

TenwaysA , an electric bicycle brand led by Tencent and Hillhouse Capital, is also not to be underestimated. In May 2021, Shenzhen Tenways Sports Technology Co., Ltd. was officially established. Its main business is the research and development, production and sales of ebikes. It owns the brand TenwaysA and has factories, offices and warehousing and logistics centers in Europe and America. Just over a year after its establishment, it has successively obtained investments from well-known bigwigs such as Hillhouse Capital, Tencent Investment, Zhongding Capital, and Huaying Capital.

Compared with other independent websites, TenwaysA's development is not fast, but it is very stable. At present, its products are mainly sold on independent websites and some professional electric bicycle comprehensive websites. On its independent website, we can see that TenwaysA currently sells less than 10 products. In addition to two models, the rest are bicycle accessories and branded backpacks.

The price of TenwaysA electric bicycles is basically between 1,400 euros and 1,900 euros . For many domestic consumers, this price is indeed high, but for the overseas electric bicycle market where the price is concentrated between 3,000 and 7,000 US dollars, the price of this product is not high and has strong competitiveness in the European market. Since electric bicycles themselves are very popular among European consumers, TenwaysA captured a group of loyal consumers soon after entering the European market.

Its website not only contains a large number of real reviews from consumers who have purchased its products, but also articles and comments from various professional bicycle forums including ebike-news and sales websites, as well as reviews from many celebrities. Currently, TenwaysA has 561,000 monthly visitors, and is showing an upward trend month by month. However, TenwaysA also mentioned that the overall traffic growth was mainly driven by paid traffic in the early stage of operation, but with a stable customer base, it has begun to gradually reduce its cost investment since March this year, and the current investment has dropped to US$370 per month.

On the TenwaysA website, its visitors mainly come from the United States, Germany and other regions. They are mainly middle-aged and young men aged 18-44. They like to visit various social media websites, professional bicycle websites and bicycle sports websites, but they are very loyal to ebikes. Therefore, TenwaysA has a stable customer base, and this stable customer base is also driving the growth of the ebike track market size.

In an unsaturated market, the ebike track is an attractive blue ocean

Market research institutions predict that the global ebike track market will reach $118.6 billion by 2030, with North America being one of the larger markets. During 2019-2020, sales of electric bicycles in the United States increased by 145%, twice that of traditional bicycles. In the European market, represented by Germany, in 2021, German electric bicycles accounted for 38.7% of the bicycle business market share, reaching 1.95 million units.

Although the ebike market is growing rapidly, it is not saturated at present. It is understood that although there are many ebike manufacturers in China, the shipment scale of each brand is relatively small at this stage. From a probability point of view, there is still a chance for sellers to enter this track to share the market.

As one of the three largest bicycle supply chain bases in the world, China has a greater say in ebikes. Previously, China has manufactured many high-end bicycle brands abroad, and has formed three major bicycle manufacturing bases centered in Jiangsu, Guangdong and Tianjin. In addition, in recent years, Chinese companies have also made rapid progress in the research of motors, batteries, and controllers, and are now comparable to many international first-tier manufacturers.

Of course, if Chinese sellers want to capture the overseas ebike market, the most important thing is the attitude of local consumers and national policies.

It is understood that ebike has developed rapidly overseas as early as 2014. During the epidemic in recent years, subways in European and American cities have been affected and shut down, which has also made many people pay more attention to health issues. Two-wheeled travel tools represented by ebike are favored by local consumers, and their growth rate has exceeded that of traditional bicycles.

In addition, in order to reduce carbon emissions, European and American countries have successively introduced subsidy policies and carbon credit policies to encourage consumers to buy short-distance electric vehicles. Specifically, the bill of the US House of Representatives stipulates that citizens who buy electric bicycles can receive a subsidy of up to $1,500; cities such as Germany can receive a subsidy of up to 500 euros; the Swedish government also provides a subsidy of 25% of the sales price for each electric bicycle sold, with a maximum subsidy of 1,000 euros.

In the European market, if you want to buy an electric bicycle, you need to spend 3,000 euros or more, but now you can buy a Chinese brand product with good performance, quality and service for 2,000 euros. It is obvious which side the scale will tilt when consumers buy ebikes.

As the ebike concept has attracted attention at home and abroad, some industry insiders predict that the track will usher in an explosive period of entrepreneurship in the next 1-2 years. However, for sellers who want to enter the market, the future ebike track will inevitably be a process of branding. Whether in terms of technical barriers or supply chain integration, they should be established and strengthened in order to go further.

Ebike

Tencent

Hillhouse Capital