news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

Author: Pan Lei

Editor丨Hai Yao

Image source: Midjourney

"We use technology to redefine the way you ride."

"URTOPIA", an overseas E-Bike (electric assisted bicycle) brand founded in 2021, played a "disruptive" card on its official website.

This is a common tactic used by the so-called "new forces" in all walks of life.

But URTOPIA is different in that it tells users that its products are not just about riding. "We provide intelligent bicycles with thoughts based on AI."

For example, equipping the E-Bike with ChatGPT makes it look more like a humanoid "partner" during the riding process.

It's an attractive concept.

For investors, this is exactly what they want.

Information from Ruishou Analysis shows that URTOPIA just completed a new round of financing in early July and raised over 10 million US dollars from investors.

This round of investment was led by Guangyuan Investment, Yidiantianxia, ​​and Nanhu Financial, and followed by Brizan Ventures, DCM China, Gao Bingqiang and Kongho Fund.

This is the second round of financing URTOPIA has received after receiving tens of millions of US dollars in financing in early 2022.

URTOPIA has thus become one of the hottest startups in the E-Bike field.

The world's first E-Bike brand equipped with ChatGPT

"I'm a little tired from riding."

This is the exclamation you make while riding.

But then there may be a voice saying: "If you feel tired, you can stop and take a rest. Getting enough sleep will help you feel energetic."

This voice comes from your newly bought URTOPIA, which is equipped with ChatGPT that can communicate with you.

Not to mention how much emotional value this rather "official" conversation can bring to you, but URTOPIA is indeed the first E-Bike brand to integrate ChatGPT into its voice interaction system.

This made him famous.

It should be noted that before URTOPIA, only Mercedes-Benz in the travel field disclosed plans related to ChatGPT.

In the AI ​​craze brought about by ChatGPT, URTOPIA was the first to take the plunge, thereby strengthening its own intelligent attributes.

After URTOPIA integrated ChatGPT with its own speech recognition system, users were able to interact via voice and find any answer they wanted - although the answer given by ChatGPT was still a bit stiff when it came to saying "I'm tired."

But this at least gives URTOPIA an AI-driven "co-pilot" role, thus pushing the intelligence level of E-Bike to a new height.

In fact, before the ChatGPT craze, URTOPIA was using the concept of wearable devices in the consumer electronics field to create E-Bike products.

For example, URTOPIA has functions such as navigation or fingerprint unlocking.

This is one of the key factors in its differentiated product capabilities and attracting high-end user groups.

URTOPIA currently displays a total of three E-Bike products on its official website, two of which are priced at US$1,999, and the most expensive Carbon 1 Pro is priced at as high as US$2,999.

This has basically entered the pricing range of high-end brands represented by Trek.

From the perspective of product strength, URTOPIA's E-Bike products not only attract users with their intelligence, but also have a trendy and lightweight design.

Since carbon fiber is used in multiple parts including the body frame, URTOPIA achieves a body weight of only about 15 kilograms, which also expands its usage scenarios.

At the same time, URTOPIA's body design also has the style of international manufacturers.

It seems that URTOPIA has all the necessary conditions to become an E-Bike disruptor.

Investors certainly believed this, so they took out real money.

If you can't find your dream car, build it yourself

The reason Ferry Porsche built a car was that he couldn't find his "dream car" on the market.

He wanted to build a car for himself, so Porsche was born.

This is already one of the most cited reasons for starting a business by many startup founders.

For example, Feng Xiaotong, the founder of Xiaopaoche, also placed this sentence in a prominent position in his speech.

The same is true for Zhang Bo, the founder of URTOPIA.

He graduated from Tsinghua University and later went to the University of Minnesota to obtain a doctorate degree. While in the United States, he developed a hobby of cycling.

But after returning from the United States, he, like Ferry Porsche, "looked around and couldn't find a dream car."

So he made the same decision as Ferry Porsche and decided to build himself a cycling-related dream car.

That was around 2020, and he set his sights on the E-Bike track, which had already begun to become popular at the time.

Like China's new car-making forces, Zhang Bo regards intelligence as the core competitiveness of E-Bike.

"It is a huge pain point to digitize cycling."

This also allows URTOPIA to extract the biggest differentiation - turning the E-bike product into a "wearable device with two wheels."

As a result, URTOPIA has achieved differentiation in product definition in the competition with traditional large manufacturers.

At that time, these large companies still invested their main innovation resources in traditional innovation directions such as lightweighting.

URTOPIA is like the Tesla of the E-bike field, and it quickly gained popularity through intelligence.

At the end of 2021, URTOPIA's first E-bike product raised more than 3 million US dollars on the overseas crowdfunding platform Indiegogo and was regarded as "the world's smartest E-bike."

In addition to intelligent strategies, URTOPIA's channels are also quite distinctive.

Generally speaking, channels are often the advantage of traditional large manufacturers - just like in the automotive field, car companies often own hundreds or even thousands of 4S stores.

But URTOPIA has clearly been inspired by the new forces in car manufacturing.

This E-bike company did not blindly engage in Amazon cross-border e-commerce, but chose to build its own independent website and provide services directly to users.

The communication strategy is similar to social media such as Facebook and cooperation with KOLs.

However, now, URTOPIA has adjusted its channel strategy and started to expand its dealers.

This may be related to the fact that it has established a factory with a planned production capacity of up to 200,000 units in Tongxiang, Zhejiang.

According to information, URTOPIA currently has more than 300 distributors in the United States and Germany.

Or be listed on the capital market within three to five years

"I'm not worried about sales, the focus is delivery. This year's (2023) production plan is not enough to sell, and the first two to three batches of goods will be gone as soon as they arrive at the port."

URTOPIA founder Zhang Bo once described the shortage of products in this way.

This may be related to the continued expansion of the E-bike market.

According to market research firm Allied Market Research, the global E-bike market size will reach US$118.6 billion in 2030.

A report released in 2023 by the overseas marketing agency Feishu Shenno showed that global E-bike reached US$29.21 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach US$38.39 billion in 2025.

The report believes that technological advances (high-density lithium batteries, etc.), policy support, changes in commuting preferences, and growing demand for outdoor sports have become the main drivers of E-bike market growth.

The report said that China's mature production and supply chain system provides strong support for E-bike's overseas expansion.

Data shows that China's E-bike production in 2021 reached 45.511 million units.

In addition, regions including Tianjin have formed an industrial agglomeration effect, with prominent cost advantages.

This has also enabled URTOPIA to achieve rapid development and obtain financing in the past few years.

But in the past two years, there have been some changes in the E-bike market.

The most representative of these is KKR's acquisition of the Dutch bicycle manufacturer Accell Group for 1.56 billion euros, and the Dutch electric bicycle company VANMOOF, which was positioned in the high-end market and was declared bankrupt by the court in July last year.

This caused the E-bike market to be questioned for a time.

After all, Europe and the United States are the main markets for E-bikes, with sales reaching 6.4 million units in 2021 (Feishu Shenno data).

But these negative industry events only occurred in Europe and the United States.

So far, China's advantages in industrial chain and technological innovation have given E-bike good opportunities both for domestic sales and overseas sales.

Data shows that Chinese overseas brands still focus on being lightweight and cost-effective.

For example, the DYU and others are generally priced below $1,000, and their main features are portability, ease of use and cost-effectiveness.

But URTOPIA’s approach is obviously different - the sense of technology and intelligent functions have become the main selling points.

This significantly enhances the product value.

According to a document from August last year, URTOPIA plans to reach US$30-40 million in operating revenue by 2023 and to be listed on the capital market within 3-5 years.

URTOPIA has not yet disclosed its revenue for 2023.

And just like the "new forces" in the automotive field in the early stages of development, URTOPIA has not yet announced how many units of its "thinking smart automatic car" have been sold.

But for users who are interested in URTOPIA products, this may be an opportunity - the URTOPIA official website is having a promotion, with all three E-Bike products being sold at a price reduction of US$500.

This article is original to Chuangyebang.com and may not be reproduced without permission. Otherwise, Chuangyebang.com will reserve the right to pursue legal liability. If you need to reprint or have any questions, please contact [email protected].