Dat Bike is on a mission to put more electric bikes on Vietnam’s roads. The startup announced today that it has raised $8 million led by a returning investor from Singapore-based Jungle Ventures, seven months after announcing its first round of funding. GSR Ventures and Delivery Hero Ventures participated in this round along with Wavemaker Partners and Innoven Capital.
The new round brings Dat Bike’s total to $16.5 million. It will use the new funding to hire its technology and product development, sales, support, R&D and production teams and build more capacity in its factories.
Dat Bike was founded in 2018 by Son Nguyen, who learned how to build bikes from scratch while working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. The company says its revenue has grown 10x over the past 12 months.
The bikes are sold at three stores in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang, with more stores planned. It will expand to Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Nha Trang, Binh Duong and Can Tho in the next few months.
Dat Bike is also available through online channels and stores, planning to get instant feedback to increase the pace of innovation and development in each of its product releases.
Nguyen told TechCrunch that since Dat Bike’s last funding round, it has continued to build its manufacturing capabilities and go-to-market teams in research and development. Dat Bike is now available in all three regions in Vietnam.
Dat Bike’s customer strategy is to deliver e-bikes with good after-sales service first, Nguyen said, with the aim of converting gasoline bike users to electric.
Dat Bike claims that its new model, the Weaver 200, has a range of 50 km compared to most electric bikes, with a range of 200 km and a charge of 100 km in one hour and a full 200 km in three hours. 6 to 8 hours for other e-bikes.
The startup recently launched DatCharge, a bicycle charging station that it claims will cut charging times by a third. DatCharge is currently located in central Ho Chi Minh City, with plans to expand nationwide over the next few years.
In a statement about Jungle Ventures’ investment, Vice President Mai Tran said, “This is our third investment in Dat Bike and we continue to be amazed by the team’s incredible execution. The development is a testament to the electric future the kid is building with Dat Bike.
