As VC-backed e-bike startups went bankrupt, bootstrapped Lectric grew - BERITAJA

Lectric eBikes, a Phoenix, Arizona-based institution known for its applicable and affordable XP bid electrical bikes, has launched 3 caller brands truthful acold this twelvemonth — a Juiced Bikes relaunch, a caller Juiced Powersports brand, and now a premium escapade marque called Monarc — an description strategy that runs antagonistic to the activity of bankruptcies that person plagued the sector.

Together, Lectric has put about $10 cardinal toward these initiatives, CEO Levi Conlow told TechCrunch.

“Others mightiness beryllium pulling back, aliases raising money, we’re really deploying and investing into initiatives for illustration this,” he said. “I really don’t deliberation the marketplace is saturated correct now; Lectric past period had its biggest income period successful our company’s beingness and we sold almost 30,000 bikes. I’m not judge anybody has done that before, moreover astatine for illustration highest COVID.”

Image Credits:Lectric eBikes /

It whitethorn look for illustration an overseas clip to motorboat an e-bike brand, fto unsocial three.

In the past 2 years a slew of e-bike companies person revenge for bankruptcy, unopen down, aliases withered until they were snapped up by larger companies. Rad Power Bikes, the buzzy electrical motorcycle institution that raised about $330 cardinal successful task capital, was possibly the highest floor plan collapse. The company, erstwhile weighted astatine $1.65 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. Its assets were acquired by Life Electric Vehicles Holdings for $13.2 million.

“To me, it’s conscionable opened it up,” Conlow said of the marketplace aft listing a twelve companies that had folded aliases near the U.S. market. “I deliberation the the marketplace really lacks a batch of worthy title correct now.”

The contrarian stake has a contrarian backstory. Conlow and co-founder Robby Deziel ne'er raised task capital, alternatively bootstrapping the business, which they founded 7 years agone arsenic puerility friends, earlier taking an finance from backstage equity patient Bertram Capital Management successful 2020. What started arsenic a scrappy startup is now 1 of the top-selling direct-to-consumer e-bike companies successful the U.S., shipping 150,000 units successful 2025.

The playbook — bootstrap, enactment profitable, fto better-funded competitors implode, past grow — is 1 that founders crossed hardware categories mightiness find instructive. But Conlow is observant about really Lectric grows. Trying to waste e-bikes for each benignant of customer risks diluting the brand, he said.

“What we’ve learned is that Lectric cannot beryllium everything to everyone,” he said, earlier pointing to its wide merchandise lineup, which see folding bikes and an electrical tricycle. The institution sells 90% of its products nonstop to consumers done its website, which, depending connected the month, attracts 2 cardinal to 4 cardinal visitors.

The solution is to support the brands abstracted aliases consequence dilution. Featuring a Juiced Bikes exemplary prominently connected the Lectric homepage, for instance, mightiness propulsion attraction distant from Lectric’s best-selling XP Series, sending the incorrect awesome to the incorrect customer.

“You request to beryllium a batch much intentional, and erstwhile you’re much focused, you could spell really heavy into that vertical; you could make customer service, branding, and trading circumstantial to that merchandise and that company,” he said.

That’s what Lectric has done pinch Juiced Bikes, Juiced Powersports — which will vessel its first e-moto successful August — and Monarc. Juiced Bikes was acquired by Lectric successful 2025 and relaunched past month, while Monarc, which started arsenic a skunkworks task wrong Lectric, spun retired this week arsenic a standalone marque based successful Minnesota, led by manufacture vets Julia Moran and Ryan Callahan.

Each marque has its ain merchandise engineering and development, branding, marketing, and customer work teams. Conlow takes this separation a measurement further, noting he moreover wants the brands to compete pinch each other.

“We don’t want 3 brands that extremity up looking and performing the aforesaid aliases emotion the same. There should beryllium patient title betwixt [them],” he said.

Image Credits:Lectric eBikes /

Monarc is leaning connected its premium escapade manner features and customer work strategy that includes a five-year warranty and telephone support pinch existent humans. (Conlow was speedy to statement that nary of its brands will ever usage AI for customer service.)

Monarc’s first e-bike, an all-terrain way electrical motorcycle called the Marker, will travel modular pinch 2 LG 48-volt 15Ah batteries — an offering that is different successful the e-bike assemblage — that supply 720 watt-hours each and are UL 2271 certified. The batteries besides travel pinch a 5-amp accelerated charger. The Marker, which will statesman shipping to customers successful July, is kitted retired pinch different premium features for illustration a Bafang motor, Shimano drivetrain, and a 3.5-inch colour touchscreen that could sync pinch different accessories for illustration rearview radar and smart helmets.

Monarc and the 2 Juiced brands are small, pinch 10 and 8 employees, respectively, though they are expected to expand. Lectric itself has 170 employees. The brands run independently but leverage Lectric’s proviso chain, purchasing power, and backend support.

Whether Lectric will proceed to motorboat caller independent brands is an unfastened question. Conlow kept the imaginable open: “We proceed to research and support our eyes open.” But he isn’t successful immoderate rush. “We person made our sheet very full, and we’re going to enactment focused connected this.”