AutoBike began selling its first bicycles this year, and it has hit some significant milestones in that time.
The Troy-based startup manufactures a bicycle with an automatic shifter meant to make a ride smoother for recreational and casual bike riders. It moved into a 7,000-square-foot warehouse and production facility last spring and began making sales in time for the summer riding season.
"We topped $100,000 in revenue in our first six months," says Sean Simpson, CEO of
AutoBike.
The 2-year-old company was launched by a group of automotive industry veterans who applied their expertise to creating AutoBike's automatic shifter. The idea is the shifter will automatically change the bike’s gear to the optimal one for its rider.
AutoBike is composed of a team of eight people, which is up one person from the company's staff in 2012. It has raised $610,000 in seed capital, including the $25,000 prize from winning the Next Generation Manufacturing category at last week’s
Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition.
Source: Sean Simpson, CEO of AutoBike
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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