KipleX chief executive officer Andrew Tan(pic) said the market opportunity for the motorbike industry in South-East Asia was expected to hit US$8.53bil (RM35.4bil) by 2023.
PETALING JAYA: KipleX, the new venture studio of Green Packet Bhd, has embarked on its maiden investment in Singapore-based smart electric motorbike company ION Mobility.
In a statement yesterday, Green Packet said the venture is aimed at developing smart electric motorbikes for the South-East Asian market.
“With the aim to create seamless user experiences for sustainable mobility, ION Mobility announced it has raised US$3.3mil (RM13.7mil) in seed funding recently, ” it said.
Green Packet said other notable investors include private and government institutional funds, as well as corporate and angel investors such as Monk’s Hill Ventures, TNB Aura, Village Global, 500 Durians, AngelCentral syndicate and Seeds Capital.
“The funding will be used to launch electric motorbikes in South-East Asia, expand market presence and develop its research and development, supply chain and manufacturing capabilities.”
KipleX chief executive officer Andrew Tan(pic) said the market opportunity for the motorbike industry in South-East Asia was expected to hit US$8.53bil (RM35.4bil) by 2023.
“The total addressable market is over 200 million petrol motorcycles that can be converted to electric to create a more sustainable future.
“ION Mobility will enter the market focusing on Indonesia, which has one of the biggest motorbike markets globally, with 2019 motorcycle sales in Indonesia at 6.38 million units a year, ” he said in the statement.
Tan said ION Mobility plans to launch its first smart electric motorbike in Indonesia in 2021 and Malaysia soon after that.
In addition, he said the company was set to expand its team and operations across Singapore, Jakarta and Shenzhen, develop its in-house research and development capabilities and build up its supply chain and manufacturing partnerships.
“The size of the market for smart electric motorbikes in South-East Asia is tremendous.
“In addition, we would have the opportunity to work with ION Mobility to potentially incorporate Green Packet’s digital solutions to value add to the product.
“We are confident our investment will yield high returns on investmen while also establishing product synergy with our suite of digital innovations.
“We will put the ‘smart’ into the electric motorbike.”
Meanwhile, ION Mobility, co-founder and chief executive officer James Chan has this to say:
“We are committed to offer riders across South-East Asia superior alternatives to their petrol-based motorbikes.”
Green Packet noted that ION Mobility co-founders James Chan and chief operating officer Joel Chang have a strong track record in building and scaling tech companies in South-East Asia.
“Prior to ION, Chan was a tech venture capitalist and entrepreneur at Neoteny Labs, Silicon Straits and Wecash.
“Chang, an automotive industry veteran, founded Scorpio Electric and has previously led a BMW dealer group’s establishment and expansion across Asia.”
https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2020/10/23/kiplex-rides-into-smart-electric-bike-industry
