It’s no secret that Chinese internet giants are trying to grab a place in the fledging smart bike market. Xiaomi, which is known their smart hardware ecosystem, connecting everything from wrist bands to air purifiers, has become the latest company to join this bandwagon.
Chinese smart bike maker Yunmake announced an eight-digit RMB Series A funding led by Shunwei Capital Partners, the venture capital firm co-founded by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, and followed by Foxconn, Qualcomm, ZhenFund, Ricebank, Yinxinggu Capital and a few other investors. Shunwei and Ricebank, the venture capital institution backed by Alibaba founders, also participated the startups’ angel round in 2014.
Company founder and CEO Qiu Yiwu said that the funding will be used for mass production, marketing and new product development. The firm did not disclose the valuation of this round, but Qiu said that it is more than ten times that of the angel round.
Yunmake is a design-driven hardware startup. Its first product Yunbike, which just won Red Dot Design Best of The Best Award, is a sleekly designed electric folding bike weighted at 16kg.
Powered by a 36v, 6.6AH battery, Yunbike takes four hours to be fully charged and supports a maximum millage of 30km. While zipping around at up to 25 miles per hour, riders can monitor their speed on an LED display.
And of course, the bike features an app that can keep track all kinds of metrics, like speed, battery, distance traveled, and light control. The app also integrated some social features that will allow you to connect with other riders by sharing and rating bike routes.
The company is planning to launch a second generation product on October 15th.
Founded in 2013 by Zhejiang University alumni, Yunmake currently has around thirty staff onboard, most of them are from China’s post-90 gen. Company founder Qui has rich experience in working at the intersection of design, technology and business development as former members of Sony’s China Creative Centre, and Alibaba’s User Experience Design Department.
Image credit: Yunmake