We’ve seen a lot of electric bike conversion kits over the years, but none are quite as interesting-looking as the Clip kit. And now the company isn’t just standing out on the street, it’s also standing up and raising a $10M Series A funding round to expand its operations.
We first started covering the Clip kit back in 2021, when the invention was in its early stages but had already achieved its unicorn-like form.
In 2023, we finally got a chance to test out the Clip e-bike conversion kit in person at the Micromobility Europe conference in Amsterdam. You can see the testing experience in the video below, but the real takeaway is just how simple it seemed to install and remove the kit from a bike.
That’s the real beauty of the Clip kit: The entire device is easily removable, returning the donor bike back into a pedal bike. Some e-bike riders might want to go electric permanently, but others just want to occasionally give their pedal bike some boost, and that’s where the Clip kit comes in. It adds extra power when riders want it, but doesn’t leave extra bulk on the bike when it’s not needed.
The physical drive system found in the kit isn’t the most innovative by itself, featuring a friction drive that spins the front tire via a roller system. Friction drives were common on some of the earliest e-bikes over two decades ago, and weren’t without their own downsides. But their ability to avoid interfacing with the rest of the bike is one of their advantages, and a friction drive has never been implemented quite like the way Clip has done it here.
That innovation, offering the system in an easily removable format, not to mention the impressively low entry-price of $499, is helping the company expand quickly. Now with growth on their minds, Clip is seeking a $10M Series A funding round, according to Axios.
This isn’t Clip’s first big raise. The company already closed a $2.8 million seed round led by Motovolt Mobility back in November, adding to nearly $2 million in previous raises over the company’s history.
It may limited in power and range, but the Clip kit is designed more for cyclists who just want an extra push, but don’t want to commit their existing bikes to permanent e-bike duty.
With more wind in their sails (and cash in their pockets), Clip’s e-bike conversion kits might soon be popping up on more streets around you soon.
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