Belgium’s Cowboy raises $3 million in seed funding for its electric bikes

Belgian e-bike startup Cowboy has announced a $3 million seed round to coincide with the launch of its product.

The round was led by Index Ventures with participation from Hardware Club, Kima Ventures, and a number of invidiual investors including BlaBlaCar cofounder Francis Nappez.

Cowboy's cofounders are Adrien Roose, Karim Slaoui, and Tanguy Goretti. Roose and Slaoui formerly headed up food delivery startup Take Eat Easy before it shuttered in 2016, having failed to raise further financing.

This new startup manufactures an electric bike that, together with the battery, weighs 16kg and can travel up to 50km. It takes two and half hours to charge and is paired with an app that connects owners to the bike, serving as a key, which also generates stats and provides GPS tracking.

“We designed the Cowboy bike to appeal specifically to people who are yet to be convinced that electric bikes are a practical and mainstream mode of transport,” said Roose in a statement.

“We focused our attention on the three main reasons people are reluctant to purchase electric bikes: high cost, poor design and redundant technology – or a combination of the above – and we set about fixing them all.”

Several other investors have backed the company, such as: Thibaud Elziere (eFounders), Bertrand Jelensperger (LaFourchette), Harold Mechelynck (Ogone), and Frederic Potter (Netatmo).