{"id":23501,"date":"2022-05-31T11:47:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T15:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=23501"},"modified":"2022-05-31T11:47:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T15:47:00","slug":"afraid-of-indiegogo-these-famous-electric-bike-companies-all-got-started-crowdfunding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=23501","title":{"rendered":"Afraid of Indiegogo? These famous electric bike companies all got started crowdfunding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crowdfunding is a common way for many small companies to get their start, and is especially common in the light electric vehicle industry<\/a> for e-bike and e-scooter companies. But let\u2019s face it, crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are still erroneously synonymous with scams in the minds of many. <\/p>\n

Believe it or not, many of the biggest names in electric bicycle companies these days actually got their start on those platforms, proving that just because a company is pre-selling e-bikes doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t deliver.<\/p>\n

That being said, there\u2019s of course some legitimate basis for the aversion to crowdfunding held by many e-bike shoppers. <\/p>\n

While these campaigns often present themselves as simple pre-order arrangements, the fine print says otherwise. Technically, backers (those forking over their cash) are simply pledging monetary support to a company, and that\u2019s the end of the legal agreement. The companies doing the crowdfunding promise in exchange that backers will receive rewards or perks (the product being pre-sold). But that\u2019s really all it is, a good faith promise.<\/p>\n

While rare, a small number of companies have in fact taken in hundreds of thousands of dollars and failed to deliver the e-bike or e-scooter before<\/a>, often due to changing market conditions during COVID-19 or various mismanagement reasons. <\/p>\n

But those represent a tiny fraction of the cases. For the most part, successful crowdfunding campaigns result in successfully sending out pre-ordered e-bikes and e-scooters, though the products almost invariably arrive behind the predicted schedule.<\/p>\n

It may surprise you to learn that some of the following major players in the e-bike market got their start just like this.<\/p>\n

Rad Power Bikes<\/h2>\n

Technically speaking, Rad Power Bikes traces its lineage back over a decade and a half to when founder Mike Radenbaugh began hand-building his own DIY electric bicycles as custom-built orders. <\/p>\n

And while that is true, the major leap forward that helped launch the company to its current position as the largest e-bike brand in North America came when Rad launched its RadRover fat tire electric bike on Indiegogo in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The original RadRover 1 electric fat tire bike from 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

That campaign introduced the RadRover to a wider audience, managing to pre-sell the bikes for a price of $999.<\/p>\n

Compare that to today\u2019s prices for a $1,999 RadRover 6 Plus<\/a> (which is admittedly a much higher-end e-bike than the original seven-year-old RadRover 1).<\/p>\n

You can check out the new model in my first ride experience on the bike<\/a>, seen in the video below.<\/p>\n

Ultimately it just goes to show, today\u2019s new entry to the market as a quaint little Indiegogo campaign could be tomorrow\u2019s industry top dog<\/a>, perhaps one day reaching Rad\u2019s level of selling as many e-bikes in an afternoon as its original campaign sold in a month.<\/p>\n

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