Dat Bike, a Vietnamese electric motorbike startup, has raised US$2.6 million in a pre-Series A funding led by Singapore-headquartered Jungle Ventures, as part of its goal to drive the mass adoption of green transportation in Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Dat Bike wishes to replace 250 million gasoline motorbikes with electric scooters in SEA. Photo: Dat Bike

Other investors participating in this round were an early-stage venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners, California-based Hustle Fund and iSeed Ventures.

The fresh funds will bankroll the startup’s plans to scale up its team, research & development, and improve the quality of services in line with rising demand for its bikes of 35% monthly, co-founded by Son Nguyen told Hanoitimes.

“This investment into Dat Bike marks its first investment in the mobility industry,” Amit Anand, founding partner of Jungle Ventures, said and adding the US$25 billion two-wheeler industry in Southeast Asia is ripe for reaping benefits of new developments in electric vehicle (EV) and automation.

Established in 2018, the startup was co-founded by Son Nguyen, who left his engineering job in Silicon Valley to set up Dat Bike. 

After launching the first EV model in 2019, the startup reached sales growth of 4,000% in 2020. It also expanded the factory scale in the southern province of Binh Duong, with a production capacity of up to 1,000 units per month. Earlier, the startup received an investment of US$60,000 from the Vietnamese TV show Shark Tank program.

Its flagship bike Weaver, with a retail price of US$1,700, is certified by the Ministry of Transportation. The bike can accelerate from zero to 50km per hour in three seconds. It requires less than three hours to be fully charged.  

According to Son, there are three big motorcycle markets China, India and Southeast Asia in the world. While both China and India already have dominant local bike manufacturers, Southeast Asia is dominated by Japanese players.

"The startup strives to become the motorcycle company of Southeast Asia through developing the EV industry," Son said.