AutoBike made some significant sales of its first bicycle and automatic shifter this year.
The Troy-based bike startup sold out all 150 of its bicycles and is now looking at the possibility of selling its automatic shifting technology as a retrofit to a couple of large bike distributors. The idea is to find another way to get its shifting technology onto more bikes in 2015.
"We have prototypes with a couple of different companies," says Sean Simpson, president & CEO of
AutoBike.
AutoBike got its start three years ago making an automatic shifter for bicycles. The idea is to create a smoother, more enjoyable ride for casual bicyclists who love the idea of a leisurely ride but don’t commute on a bike often.
"We're trying to sell it to your friend who hasn't ridden a bike in 30 years," Simpson says.
The 4-person startup raised $610,000 in seed capital last year, including the $25,000 prize at the 2013
Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. It also helped install one of its automatic shifter retrokits on a bike for a veteran. The recipient is a double-arm amputee working with Project Mobility, one of the 19 programs of the
Wounded Warrior Project.
Source: Sean Simpson, president & CEO of AutoBike
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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