- Micro-mobility e-bike company Wheels announced recently that it raised more than $50 million in funding led by DBL Partners.
Wheels, a micro mobility e-bike company, announced recently that it raised more than $50 million in funding led by DBL Partners. Over the next few months, Wheels is expanding into additional U.S. and international markets.
“The micro-mobility market has the ability to continue to revolutionize the future electrification of transport, but problems of safety and sustainability are keeping the industry from reaching its true potential,” said of DBL Partners founder and managing partner Ira Ehrenpreis. “Wheels is solving these issues with its safety-focused product design, including the upcoming release of its integrated helmet technology, a more sustainable business, and maintenance model, and a mass-market design that appeals to a wider gender and age demographic.”
Along with being more comfortable than a stand-up scooter, Wheels’ e-bike has larger wheels, a lower center of gravity, and a patent-pending shareable and smart helmet system integrated directly into the bike. Plus Wheels has a modular design in order to allow for easily swappable replacement parts and for fostering continued improvements and a longer product life cycle while taking up a similar amount of space as a traditional stand-up scooter. And Wheels also uses swappable batteries, which significantly improves unit economics.
“This is a much more appealing form factor. Head-to-head with stand-up scooters, we have seen the Wheels bike gain share because it is much more appealing to women and to people over 35,” added Duncan Davidson, General Partner at Bullpen Capital.
Even though scooters have a tough time riding on the cobblestone roads in Europe, the Wheels e-bike has positioned to become the preferred micro-mobility solution.
“Our dedication to safety and sustainability has been core to our mission from the start, and now it’s proving to be a major competitive differentiator within the market,” explained Joshua Viner, CEO at Wheels.
Joshua Viner had co-founded Wheels with his brother Jonathan Viner. The Viner brothers are also known for launching three prior ventures over the past decade including the Wag! dog walking app. Wheels is based in West Hollywood, California.
