Deal To Watch: Why Not Electrify Your Bicycle?

Key Stats:

Summary

At the time of publication, November 15th, GeoOrbital had raised $112K of a $1.07M Max Goal.
GeoOrbital has been selected as a “Deal To Watch” by KingsCrowd. This distinction is reserved for deals selected into the top 10-20% of our deal diligence funnel. If you have questions regarding our deal diligence and selection methodology please reach out to hello@kingscrowd.com.

Check out our discussion with Founder Michael Burtov that was conducted during their last raise on Netcapital HERE

Problem

The wheel has been around a long time. And while we’re not sure if fire or the wheel came first we know one things if for sure: the 21^st century will need a whole new wheel if we are to meet the needs of an ever-expanding global population.

People are becoming more and more orbanized – even in the United States. By the middle of the century it is estimated that 2/3 of the world’s population of nearly 10 billion will live in urban areas. This means a whole lot more walking, scooters, and public transportation and a lot fewer cars.

Already, in places like Asia, millions go to work not in cars but on bicycles. Doing so saves time, fuel, and sanity. By electrifying our bicycles we can take what is a good idea in some places and make it the transportation-method of choice for billions. There’s just one problem: electric bicycles are expensive – going as high as $2,000. Plus, if you already own a bike, why buy another one?

Solution

In just 60 seconds, anyone can install a GeoOrbital Wheel on their traditional bike and hit the road on a motorized, fully-electric bicycle.

This patent-pending wonder of modern engineering isn’t just for bicycles, it can also be installed on wheel chairs and, well, anything that uses a wheel! Barbara Corcoran, co-host of hit television show Shark Tank said “It’s like magic!” when GeoOrbital’s team visited “The Tank.” When reviewing it, Engadget concluded by saying “The wheel was easy to charge, install, and riding it was enjoyable.”

With a top speed of 20 mph GeoOrbital’s consumer-focused option costs just $1,000 – a small price to pay to electrify a common bicycle. In no time anyone can be off to work, play, and anywhere in between.

The Market

What’s truly worth taking note of is the growing market for electric bicycles in general. By 2023 the electric bicycle market will exceed $21 billion according to analytics firm Market Research Future.

They are basing these estimates on how many “units” of electric bicycles they expect will be sold: 40 million. Were that to play out, and GeoOrbital to capture just 10% of it’s market, that would equate to $4 billion in annual revenues.

To date the company has already sold over 3,000 wheels and last year (2017) revenues exceeded $2,000,000. High urbanization rates, and constantly improving bicycle-friendly infrastructure in major cities all make for this startup becoming increasingly viable.

In my hometown of Washington, D.C. I have witness a marked increase in the number of “bike” lanes throughout DC, Northern Virginia, and Southern Maryland. While there are plenty of bikes (and electric scooters) beginning to crowd these lanes, I have a feeling it won’t be long until a few electric bicycles powered by the GeoOrbital Wheel will begin speeding past my window.

Cautionary Note

It’s worth noting that GeoOrbital is not the first company to try it’s hand at electrifying that most ancient of inventions: the wheel. A simple Google search for “electric wheel” or “electric bicycle” bears this out.  

This doesn’t mean GeoOrbital lacks originality or that it is doomed to fa ilure. As we’ll cover in just a moment, it was founded by former SpaceX engineers — a company that certainly didn’t invent the rocket. Nor did another Elon Musk-run company, Tesla, invent the automobile. Bulls would say what these two enterprises are doing is the “rocket” or the “car” right. 

And so, it may very well be with GeoOrbital.

Why We Like it

1. On-Trend: More and more people are biking as part of their daily lives. Combined with an increasingly urbanized global (and national) population makes any company catering to the bicycling-market an intriguing investment.
2. Large market potential: Already the global electric bike market exceeds $16 billion as of 2017. By the mid-2020s this figure is expected to have grown at around 6% per-annum to almost $24 billion. With a valuation today of less than $15 million it seems, at least initially, that if the technology works the GeoOrbital Wheel should be able to attain a modest chunk of this growing pie.
3. Simple solution: Anytime we hear of a simple solution to a broad societal problem we’ll always take a look. On a pound-for-pound basis bicycles are among the most efficient forms of transportation around (it may not feel like it when you’re tired but the amount of energy you put into biking home from war is always far less than the energy consumed by a car). By making an easy-to-charge electrified wheel that’s even easier to use and install GeoOrbital is making it easy to live smart.
4. Palatable price point: When speaking with the Founder he noted that most people buying the wheel are actually middle class individuals living in the city who see the wheel as a way to create a really affordable form of transportation.In short this team isn’t fighting for share of a premium end market with few buyers. In fact the $1K wheel is not a high end wheel, but rather an affordable form of transporation. This provides a much broader selling base at a price that is in fact looked at as reasonable.

The Team

The “About Us” page on GeoOrbital’s website begins with “We are rocket scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs, and experts across many different industries. We have built spacecraft with SpaceX, electric vehicles with Ford and micro-businesses with the Peace Corps.”

 You had me at “Rocket Scientists.”

As far as manufacturing goes, the “Wheel” was both designed and is presently being built in New England. In fact, the structural components that aren’t made right in Massachusetts are assembled not-too-far-away in New Hampshire.

Michael Burtov

Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Burtov brings 15 years of experience in the startup world. Before GeoOrbital, Michael was the founder and CEO of not one, not two, but three companies and most recently served as the founder and CEO of Cangrade. He then left the hiring platform which he piloted for three years, in 2014 to help found GeoOrbital.

In addition to devot ing himself to growing GeoOrbital Michael acts as an instructor with the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge which explains why Upstart Business Journal descrbied him as one of the “most dynamic and creative people shaping business today.”

He confirmed his dynamic nature when he sat down to discuss Geoorbital with our CEO, Chris Lustrino and when he partook on our Fintech week panel on equity crowdfunding.

Dakota Decker

Chief Technology Officer

As GeoOrbital’s Chief Technology Officer Dakota Decker is the company’s resident “rocket scientists.” As such, he brings to the table years of experience as a development engineer for SpaceX where he worked for 6 years and parted ways with in 2015 to join GeoOrbital. If that doesn’t impress, try this on for size: Decker earned his Master’s Degree at the age of 19 only to turn down a PhD. You know, so he could go build rockets with Elon Musk.

Rating

The Recommendation: Deal to Watch

 As the world continues to become “electrified” it seems inevitable that our bikes will go along..well… for the ride. Even Big-3 automaker Ford is getting in on the urban-electric scooter game with it’s recently announced acquisitiong of electric scooter startup Spin. More and more people want to commute throughout the cities they reside in by means other than trains and automobiles: bicycles are and will increasingly be a part of the equation.

GeoOrbital appears to have the team, the product, and the market to make a strong go of success. Now all it needs is the capital to continue its expansion. The challenge will be competing with other electric wheels and new transportation tech like electric scooters and skateboards as well as trying to expand internationally.

We don’t think this will be a rocket ship investment but do think the downside is minimized with established revenues, strong tech and a growing customer base.  

At the current valuation of $14.3 million, we here at KingsCrowd think it’s an Deal To Watch.