New smart e-motorbikes Southeast Asia's answer to Tesla?

With US$3.3m in seed money, the company hopes to bring e-motorbikes to the mass market.

ION Mobility has raised US$3.3m in a recent seed funding round and is now eager to take on the Southeast Asian motorbike market.

ION Mobility co-founders James Chan and Joel Chang have a strong track record in building and scaling tech companies in Southeast Asia. Prior to ION, James was a tech venture capitalist and entrepreneur at Neoteny Labs, Silicon Straits and Wecash. Joel, an automotive industry veteran, has co-founded Scorpio Electric and has previously led a BMW dealer group’s establishment and expansion across Asia.

“There is no proven EV motorbike brand in Southeast Asia with products that can compel motorbike riders to join the inevitable electric revolution,” Chan observed. Their new smart electric motorbike will offer riders in Southeast Asia ‘superior alternatives’ to petrol-based motorbikes which, Chan said, are 'clean, aspirational, and affordable'.

Southeast Asia represents 25% of global motorbike demands.

This vision by ION Mobility is backed by notable investors namely Monk’s Hill Ventures, TNB Aura, 500 Startups, Village Global, kipleX, and Seeds Capital.

Based in Singapore, ION Mobility plans to launch its first EV motorbike in Indonesia in 2021 with plans to expand its team across Jakarta and Shenzhen.