TBB. Interviewer: Can you tell us about your company?

eBikeLabs: Our company, eBikeLabs, was established four years ago with a mission to accelerate ebike adoption in cities. We help mobility operators to create reliable and profitable ebike sharing fleet.

TBB. Interviewer: Tell us about the start of your journey, how did you begin gaining customers?

eBikeLabs: Mael Bosson (CEO of eBikeLabs), spent a lot of time spent a lot of time networking in person at the start, by focusing on face to face interactions and not just relying on online crowdfunding platforms, this helped build trust with people who were then interested in becoming investors. That was how we got our first 30 early adopters, some of which became our first investors- one of which was a big CFO of a start-up based in Grenoble.

TBB. Interviewer: Why did your company decide to go through the crowdfunding process?

eBikeLabs: We wanted to go faster than the speed start-ups normally go when they begin operations. Many people we spoke to were positive about the mission of our company and so we decided to take the next step and become part of a community called Raizers that consists of a platform of knowledgeable people who could help us. We then, with their help, launched an equity crowdfunding campaign that helped us meet a lot of people, this was an entry point and through that we gained 100 private investors, some of whom have re-invested when we needed more financial help.

TBB. Interviewer: Has it helped your company gain more visibility with bigger investors?

eBikeLabs: Yes, for example, Venture Capital (VC) companies are now coming to us. They don’t like investing in too early stage start-ups because they want to be able to trust that a company will do well. So, it is difficult for a VC to know if a company is good or not and going through this process helped settle their minds. Now they’re impressed with what has been achieved!

TBB. Interviewer: What are some recent eBikeLabs successes?

eBikeLabs: First, we are very happy with the team. We’re growing quickly and now we have offices in Paris and Grenoble, France. This year, we have been selected by Allianz France and Toyota Tsusho Europe to participate in the co-acceleration programme dedicated to new mobility in Europe. This new co-acceleration programme is dedicated to work on new and urban mobility challenges. We continue to work with our existing clients and partners such as Pendix, B2eBike, EasyBike Group and others. And we continue to innovate and increase our boundaries. More exciting news coming soon!

Learn more about eBikeLabs here, and meet them next month at the Palais des Congrès de Paris from 3-4 October at The Business Booster where you can test their ebike! In the meantime, be sure to follow #TBB2019 over on social media to make sure you don’t miss our updates.