Record breaking Danish startup brings affordable e-bikes to the masses

By Cycling Embassy of Denmark | [email protected]

15 February 2017

MATE, member of Cycling Embassy of Denmark, has produced an electric bicycle designed to get more people riding bikes worldwide, in a fun, convenient, and cool way.

The siblings, Julie Kronstrøm Carton and Christian Adel Michael, have created a somewhat fairytale-like Danish startup. MATE seems to have found a winning formula by creating an affordable quality e-bike. Their ambitious mission is:

“To make the best and coolest all-around bike for any journey, any rider, any situation.”

It all started with Julie and Christian realizing that not all cities are as cycle friendly as Copenhagen. Despite all the positive aspects of cycling, there are still barriers hindering people from using their bicycle as the primary mode of transport. According to MATE, cycling combines:

“The best of all worlds: freedom, flexibility, fitness & fun, and is good for the environment.”

According to Julie and Christian bicycling should not just be a hobby but a way of life. The MATE e-bike combines speed, flexibility, freedom and a feeling of doing the right thing for yourself and for the environment.

However, perhaps most revolutionary, MATE is affordable. Recognizing that price is often a barrier for buying an e-bike, the MATE bike is an affordable alternative. According to Julie, the existing e-Bikes are expensive and the cheaper ones often have “granny” and unhandy look, with a battery placed on the luggage rack.

The final retail price is not set yet.

“We want to keep Mate affordable and are looking for ways to keep the prices low” – says Christian.

Given the overwhelming response to the crowdfunding campaign, the future of MATE looks bright. Although it might take a little while before the MATE e-Bikes fills the city scape. First, the bike needs to be put into production, so that all the costumers that have already bought the MATE through Indiegogo.com gets their very own. Currently MATE bikes are sold in 80 different countries.

To sum up, Mate states:

“The goal is to upscale the production to the rest of the world and together with our great community of supporters, start to promote cycling culture and establish MATE as a well known bike in the world of cycling”.