Dat Bike is on a mission to put more electric bikes on Vietnam’s roads. The startup said today it has raised $8 million led by returning investor Singapore-based firm Jungle Ventures, just seven months after its first round of funding was announced. GSR Ventures and Delivery Hero Ventures also participated in this round, along with Wavemaker Partners and Innoven Capital.
The new round brings Dat Bike’s total raised to $16.5 million. It will use its new funding on tech and product development, hiring for its sales, support, R&D and product teams, and building more capacity in its factories.
Dat Bike was founded in 2018 by Son Nguyen, who learned how to build bikes from scrap while working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. The company says that over the past 12 months, its revenue has grown 10x.
Its bikes are sold through 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 over the next few months.
Dat Bike is also available through online channels and stores, with plans to get a fast feedback loop to increase the speed of innovations and developments in each release of its products.
Nguyen told TechCrunch that since Dat Bike’s last funding round, it has scaled its production capacity and go-to-market teams while continuing to invest in research and development. Dat Bike is also available in all three regions of Vietnam now.
Dat Bike’s customer strategy is to first deliver an e-bike with good after sales service, Nguyen said, and its goal is to convert gasoline bike users to electric.
Dat Bike claims that its newest model, the Weaver 200, has a range of 200 kilometers compared to 50 kilometers for most other electric bikes, and a charging time of one hour for 100 km and three hours for a full 200 km charge, compared to 6 to 8 hours for other e-bikes.
The startup recently launched Dat Charge, a charging station for its bikes, which it says reduces charging time by a third. Dat Charge is currently available in the center Ho Chi Minh City, with plans to expand it nationwide over the next few years.
In a statement about Jungle Ventures’ investment, vice president My Tran said, “This is our third investment in Dat Bike and we continue to be amazed by the incredible execution by the team. The growth is testament to the electric future that Son is building with Dat Bike.”