Sellers raised hundreds of millions! This product is a big hit

A group of excellent companies have caught the trend, taken advantage of it, and taken off ...

Both domestic traditional bicycle industry players and executives of large companies have started the E-BIKE business.

What exactly is an E-BIKE?

The full name of E-BIKE is Electric bicycle. It uses motors and batteries as auxiliary power, and is equipped with an intelligent sensor system. It provides power assistance according to the rider's pedaling force, realizing a new type of transportation that integrates human riding and motor assistance. To a certain extent, we can simply and roughly understand E-BIKE as an upgraded version of traditional bicycles.

In the past two years , the E-BIKE track has become very popular, and outstanding players have continued to emerge. Capital institutions such as Gaoling have also begun to invest heavily in this industry, which in turn has contributed to the increasing popularity of E-BIKE year by year.

In January and February this year , Jiahong's export sales of electric bicycles reached 10 million US dollars, an increase of 15% over the same period last year. The company's own brand Aventon E-BIKE has increased its market share in North America to about 25%, among which sales in Maryland, Michigan and Virginia have increased tenfold.

In January this year , electric bicycle brand TENWAYS completed a financing of 300 million yuan. This is the fifth round of financing the brand has obtained since its establishment. The capital behind it includes not only well-known institutions such as L Catterton, Hillhouse Capital, Huaying, and Zhongding, but also Internet giants such as Tencent.

At the same time, electric-assisted bicycle company Dayu Zhixing also announced the completion of a RMB 100 million Series A financing in 2024...

Taotao Vehicle Industry, Jihong Group, Jiuqi Group, and Saiwei Times, which have successfully completed their IPOs , have already laid out their E-BIKE strategy and achieved soaring performance by relying on related brands.

According to Markets and Markets data, the global electric bicycle market size was US$49.7 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach US$80.6 billion in 2027, with a compound growth rate of 10% from 2022 to 2027.

Competing in a market worth nearly 100 billion US dollars, cross-border e-commerce has become a new wealth-making field. Using independent websites as a carrier to promote brands and using social media to build momentum for products have become the main postures for various players to enter the E-BIKE market. However, the more unfamiliar overseas users and the increasingly crowded E-BIKE track are bringing many challenges to the players. The precedents of Dayu Intelligent Driving and Aventon do not mean that E-BIKE is a blue ocean for everyone. In the new competitive landscape, they are trying to find their own competitive advantages, and there are still a group of people who hope to succeed.

Targeting the mid-to-high-end segment! Aventon enters the first echelon of North American E-BIKE

"Our orders have been scheduled until May this year, and our products are in short supply." About two months ago, the head of Aventon lamented.

Today, Aventon is extremely popular in the North American market, and has already taken the top spot in the market share of the North American E-Bike industry. Currently, Aventon has five main product models, including the Commuter, Off-road, Fat Tire, Folding, and Cargo. The company's new electric-assisted bicycles are very popular in cities such as New York, Seattle, and Michigan. The first batch of more than 1,000 new vehicles were sold out within a week of their launch. In the mid-to-high-end segment of North American electric-assisted bicycles, Aventon has entered the first echelon.

After several years of overseas operations, Aventon has achieved a series of outstanding results. For example, Aventon ranks first in Google search for "eBike" electric bicycles; it has won the North American Best Bicycle Award for three consecutive years; authoritative media such as Forbes have commented: "The Aventon brand is the best commuter bike ever ridden" and "Aventon is leading the transformation of electric vehicles."

In terms of sales channels, in the field of cross-border e-commerce, Aventon mainly promotes its brand through its own official website, but it has also begun to get involved in third-party cross-border e-commerce platforms and entered the Amazon Canada site in 2022. Observing the traffic of its independent website, it can be found that the data is excellent. The overall number of visits in 2022 reached 7.5 million, which rose to more than 8 million in 2023 and nearly 2 million in the first three months of 2024. Facebook and YouTube are the main sources of traffic for Aventon's official website. With the rise of TikTok, the brand also pays attention to marketing in this channel, and often invites celebrities to share cycling vlogs.

In addition, the brand has established good cooperation with internationally renowned companies and has entered the counters of Best Buy, the world's largest electrical appliance and electronics distributor .

As early as 2022, capital has seen Aventon's huge development potential, and top investment institutions have increased their bets.

In March 2022, Aventon announced the completion of its first round of financing of tens of millions of dollars. This round of financing was exclusively invested by Gaorong Capital, and Minglun Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor. In November of the same year, it received investment from Sequoia Capital (China). People familiar with the matter revealed to the media that the investment valued Aventon at US$590 million.

Zhejiang Jiahong, the company behind Aventon, has a great background. The founder, Zhang Jianwei, was born in Yongkang, Zhejiang, a key city in China's bicycle industry chain and the capital of China's hardware industry. Being in the center of the industry, it was natural for Zhang Jianwei to focus on the bicycle track at the beginning. Through cross-border e-commerce sales and offline marketing promotion, Aventon-related products continue to sell well.

Afterwards, the E-BIKE track gradually emerged. Aventon was keenly aware of the new changes that began to appear on the bicycle track, and joined the ranks of E-BIKE research and development in 2017. However, the company's real transformation to the E-BIKE track was an inevitable choice under the catalysis of the epidemic.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the world, causing major disruptions to the bicycle supply chain. At the same time, online consumption surged, and in June 2020, Aventon E-BIKE sales increased by 600%.

"Orders increased tenfold overnight, and we received 300 calls a day..." Aventon revealed that in 2020, the company decided to bet on E-BIKE, and then embarked on a smooth journey.

The experience gained from bicycle entrepreneurship over the past years and the excellent domestic bicycle supply chain resources have become the driving force for the company's continued progress.

In recent years , Aventon's revenue performance has been in a state of rapid growth, with sales growth in Maryland, Michigan, Virginia and other places in the United States even reaching more than 1,000%. Forecast data shows that Aventon's turnover in 2019 was about 10 million US dollars. In 2020, the shipment volume was 50,000 units, and sales directly doubled to 32 million US dollars. In 2021, the shipment volume doubled to 100,000 units, with revenue of about 100 to 200 million US dollars, or about 2 billion yuan. From January to February this year, Jiahong's export sales of electric power-assisted bicycles reached 10 million US dollars, an increase of 15% over the same period last year.

Financing news continues, and many companies have received capital favor

As the overseas track becomes increasingly crowded, investors have become more cautious, but when it comes to the E-BIKE track, they still seem to be as enthusiastic as ever.

Since the beginning of this year, the E-BIKE track has seen several rounds of financing, including well-known companies in the industry such as Dayu Intelligent Driving and TENWAYS.

In March 2024, VELOTRIC, located in Shenzhen, completed equity financing. VELOTRIC focuses on the North American market. Its products include the "Discover" series for commuting, the "Nomad" series for off-road, and the "Thunder" series for lightweight sports. The founding team of VELOTRIC is well-known, coming from well-known companies such as LIME (a North American shared travel company), Didi, Qingju Bicycle, Giant, TREK, and Specialized. Prior to this round of financing, VELOTRIC completed the angel round, A round, and A+ round of financing in July 2022, February, and June 2023, respectively.

VELOTRIC's sales performance in the cross-border e-commerce field is also impressive. It launched an independent site in May 2022 and achieved sales of more than 15 million US dollars in just 7 months.

In January 2024, Dayu Intelligent Driving announced the completion of a RMB 100 million Series A financing round, which was invested by CICC Huirong, a subsidiary of CICC Capital.

DAYU Smart Bike was founded in Shenzhen, China in 2016. It focuses on the R&D and sales of smart lithium-powered bicycles and has established a R&D and operation service center in Europe. Its products cover three major product series: folding, urban, and off-road. It can be said that it is one of the earliest Chinese companies to capture the E-BIKE opportunity. The brand is positioned at the high end, focusing on lightness and high appearance. Adhering to the product design concept of "intelligence is standard, and good looks come first", the appearance is highly recognizable. It is the first Chinese E-BIKE brand to enter Costco, the largest chain membership warehouse hypermarket in the United States, and has more than 100 core patents.

Like other brands, Dayu Intelligent Bicycle's sales promotion in the field of cross-border e-commerce is mainly carried out through its own official website and heavy marketing on social media channels.

Now, DYU has developed into China's top export brand of smart lithium-ion electric vehicles, and is sold in more than 60 countries around the world. The annual shipment volume exceeds 500,000 units, and the number is still about 250,000 units in 2020. Among them, folding products are the main category of DYU. Currently, in the folding category in Europe and the United States, DYU accounts for more than 50% of the market.

In January 2024, TENWAYS also announced that it had received financing.

Tenway Sports, the company behind Tenway, was founded in May 2021. It is mainly focused on the field of electric bicycle manufacturing and can be said to be a cutting-edge brand. It is such an E-BIKE newcomer that has not only received investments from well-known institutions such as L Catterton, Hillhouse Capital, Huaying, and Zhongding, but also attracted the attention of Tencent.

In 2021, the year it was founded, TENWAYS won the Pre-A round of financing from Hillhouse Capital. In 2022, it again received the A round of financing from Zhongding, Huaying, Tencent and others. In 2023, it received RMB 300 million in A+ round of financing and several hundred million yuan in B round of financing. In January of this year, it received the B round of financing from Black Ant Capital and others.

TENWAYS has five electric bicycles, with factories, offices and warehousing logistics in Europe, Asia and America. Sales are mainly carried out through crowdfunding, independent websites, third-party platforms and offline channels. Within just one year after the company was founded, it received more than 850,000 US dollars from IGG crowdfunding. In more than two years since its establishment, it has quickly established a sales headquarters in the Netherlands, Europe, and laid out more than 700 physical stores. At the same time, online sales have achieved remarkable results. It is currently the fastest growing E-BIKE brand in the European market.

Let’s go back in time to before 2024.

URTOPIA, a new brand founded in 2021, focuses on the product line of electric bicycles (E-BIKE) and various peripheral products, and directly reaches European and American users through the "DTC+BTB" model. In February 2022, it completed a Pre-A round of financing of nearly 10 million US dollars, led by Lightspeed China and DCM.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of E-BIKE track financing. Relevant data shows that from July 2021 to March 2023, in less than two years, more than 20 two-wheel electric companies have obtained financing, with a total financing amount of more than 10 billion yuan.

In addition, all the listed cross-border e-commerce giants have entered the E-BIKE market, such as ANCHEER, a sports equipment brand under Sevi Times, SENADA BIKES under Jihong Holdings, Hiland under Jiuqi Holdings, Segway Xafari and Segway Xyber products under Ninebot, and Taotao Bicycles.

Taotao Vehicle's products include electric scooters, electric bicycles, electric golf carts, all-terrain vehicles, etc. It was officially established in 2015 and successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange ChiNext A-share market on March 21, 2023. In 2022, Taotao Vehicle's electric bicycles achieved sales of more than 16,000 units and sales revenue of 78.0779 million yuan, among which Denago brand electric bicycles have won multiple awards and honors.

The E- BIKE market continues to be hot, and the whole bike is enthusiastically sought after by foreign consumers. The cycling accessories related to the whole bike are also ushering in a peak period of development. Bicycle bags, glasses, pedals, and a series of bicycle parts such as handlebars, seats, lights, bells, fenders, etc., as well as bicycle accessories such as brackets, locks, and pumps are all booming. Many players have completed brand advancement with the help of market dividends, and Lamicall and ROCKBROS are excellent representatives. It can be found that many ROCKBROS products have been occupying the top 5 of the Meiya BS list in their respective subcategories for many years.

Future development opportunities for electric bicycles: high-end is the trend

The rise and development of E-BIKE is closely related to the vast development space of the bicycle market.

Bicycles are a popular means of transportation and have a large user base in many countries and regions around the world. Against the backdrop of rising oil prices and energy crises, new energy two-wheeled travel tools have become green transportation tools encouraged by countries around the world. Many countries have also incorporated bicycles into public transportation systems and accelerated the development of public bicycle systems. Against this backdrop, EBIKE has become one of the fastest growing segments. Market research institutions predict that the global E-BIKE market will reach $118.6 billion by 2030. E-BIKE is particularly popular in the European and American markets.

In recent years, the electrification process of the European bicycle market has continued to accelerate, helping to increase the popularity of electric bicycles and increase sales year by year, which depends on the progress of related technologies such as motors and batteries and the subsidy plans introduced by the government. It is understood that the governments of some European countries will introduce a series of subsidy measures for electric bicycles to lower the purchase threshold and stimulate consumers' willingness to buy.

According to data released by the European Bicycle Manufacturers Association ( CIE), the European Bicycle Industry Federation (CONEBI) and the European Cycle Foundation (ECF), European EBIKE sales increased from 1.67 million to 5 million in 2016-2021, and are expected to exceed 10 million by 2025. According to Bike Europe data, Germany's electric bicycle sales have increased by more than 30% every year in the past two years, and electric bicycles in the Netherlands have accounted for 40% of the bicycle market share. Electric bicycles have become the main driving force for the development of the European bicycle market.

The United States is the world's largest bicycle consumer and importer, and is also the largest market for my country's bicycle exports. In the United States, bicycles are commonly used for commuting, exercise, fitness, and leisure and entertainment. The main models sold on the market include mountain bikes, road bikes, off-road bikes, children's bikes, and power-assisted electric bikes, among which mountain bikes account for the largest proportion of sales.

As people's living standards improve, the focus of the electric bicycle industry is shifting from traditional transportation needs to sports, leisure, fitness, outdoor work, etc., and some new changes have also appeared in the electric bicycle track.

1. The market demand for emerging high-end materials and high-end products has increased significantly. Data research shows that the global carbon fiber bicycle market will reach 14.174 billion yuan (RMB) in 2022, and will reach 18.741 billion yuan by 2028 at an annual growth rate of 4.85%. In the future, the demand for high-end carbon fiber bicycle products will increase greatly. As a new material, carbon fiber is mainly used to make frames, forks, wheel sleeves (carbon blade rims), etc. Carbon fiber material can well reduce the weight of the bicycle body, and the material is strong and tough, which can maximize the speed and lighten the body while increasing the firmness of the body.

In developed countries and regions such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, bicycle consumption has been mainly concentrated in mid-to-high-end products (high-end materials such as carbon fiber). The consumption of mid-to-high-end bicycles represented by road bicycles, mountain bikes, and power-assisted electric bicycles has increased rapidly, and the proportion of all bicycle categories has continued to rise. Taking Germany as an example, the cumulative sales proportion of mid-to-high-end bicycles has reached about 70% of the overall bicycle sales.

2. Environmentally friendly green production. Globally, production processes are gradually becoming more automated and environmentally friendly. With the continuous improvement of environmental protection supervision by local governments, enterprises in the industry are constantly improving processes and using environmentally friendly materials in production links such as pickling and phosphating of wire rods and spraying and baking varnish on frames. They are also increasing investment in the transformation of environmental protection facilities, upgrading and transforming environmental protection equipment such as spraying and baking varnish exhaust gas, welding smoke, and solid powder collection, and using more environmentally friendly water-based paint technology in bicycle spraying. The entire bicycle production industry is becoming more automated and green.

In terms of industrial structure, due to high labor costs, the global bicycle production is mainly concentrated in developing countries and regions such as China, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. At present , the degree of industrial agglomeration in China's bicycle industry is relatively high. Three major bicycle cluster industrial belts have been formed in Tianjin Bohai Bay, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and the Pearl River Delta, with an industrial chain from bicycle raw material processing to various bicycle parts production, and then to large-scale and specialized production of complete bicycles.

From the perspective of competition, China's bicycle industry can be divided into three levels: First, large bicycle companies with strong financial and scale advantages. These companies focus on product quality and technological innovation, and have high market recognition and brand awareness, such as Giant and Merida; second, export- oriented companies with strong R&D and design capabilities, extensive sales channels, and strong industrial chain integration capabilities in the form of ODM/OEM, such as Fujita, Xidesheng, Jiuqi Shares, and Jinlun Group; third, many small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry, due to their low equipment level and lack of independent innovation capabilities, mainly produce low-grade, low-value-added products, and rely on price competition to expand surrounding regional markets.

Some companies are still seeking to land, and a group of excellent players have already occupied the high ground in the European and American markets. Various signs show that the threshold of the E-BIKE track is constantly rising, and transformation and upgrading in line with market development has become the key point for all players to break through.

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