Belgian start-up Cowboy, designer and developer of the award-winning smart electric bike has today announced its plans for European expansion with its innovative way to ease traffic, reduce emissions and bring cycling to the modern world.
With traffic congestion plaguing built up areas across the globe, electric bikes are proving to be the fastest means of transportation, beating cars and public transport. Cowboy’s vision is to elevate the daily commute to the next level in terms of speed, comfort and freedom of movement around cities. Cowboy enhances the riding experience by unifying intelligent technology, sleek design and meticulous customer service.
Founded in Brussels in 2017 Cowboy has raised ten million EUR to date from international investors (including Index Ventures, Tiger Global and Hardware Club) in its Series A round in autumn 2018 and quickly sold out its entire stock of bikes in Belgium last year. Today Cowboy announces its latest model as it sets it sights on European expansion in 2019.
“We have just reached a milestone of 1 million kilometers ridden on Cowboy equating to a saving of 112,944 kg CO2 : a great moment for us to embark on the European expansion“, says Cowboy’s co-founder and CEO Adrien Roose. “We see fantastic potential across the European market for electric bikes with customer demand increasing as cities continue to grow, traffic grinds to a halt and we look for ways to cut our carbon footprint”.
At the heart of Cowboy is the user experience enabled by technology at every step, from purchasing and riding the bike to customer support and service.
Design meets tech
Cowboy was designed to embody the founders’ vision of a sleek, light and agile bike, using high-quality components and customised assembly. With its clean design the bike weighs just 16 kg and comes with a light and compact removable battery with a range of up to 70 km. The bike intuitively reacts to the riders’ needs from the moment they begin to pedal: the automatic motor assistance senses when the rider needs more power and adjusts accordingly, without the need to switch gears. The integrated front and back lights illuminate the path for safety, with back lights increasing intensity while braking.
Full connectivity
The bike is controlled via the Cowboy app available for iOs and Android and uses Bluetooth to provide the owner with a safe digital key to activate the bike. A live dashboard keeps the rider informed of the status of the ride in terms of speed, duration, distance and battery level. The app also allows users to turn the front light on and off and has an integrated navigation system. If the bike is stolen, the ‘Find My Bike’ function in the app helps to locate it via GPS thanks to the built-in SIM card.
Continuous customer support along the way
From the test drive to the daily commute, Cowboy riders have constant access to the customer support. Cowboy will sell directly to consumers via cowboy.com, cutting out the middleman. The remote diagnostic system sends push notifications to alert the rider about any maintenance needs, e.g. if brake-pads need replacing or when the tires need inspection.
By pairing smart design and innovative tech Cowboy follows the basic principle of making the daily journey as comfortable and intuitive as possible for the rider.
“We started Cowboy with the vision to build the most exciting bike for the urban commute”, Adrien Roose comments. “By eliminating the three main hurdles associated with electric bikes – high cost, poor design and redundant technology – we’ve created an electric bike that is both exciting and practical and set to become a mainstream mode of transport. Cowboy allows urban dwellers freedom from the constraints and stress associated with the daily commute without a huge price tag or technology that will age fast”.
Cowboy retails at EUR 1,990 and will be available for purchase in the UK later this year.
Learn more here.
