Fenox, Mizuho lead $10m round for Japan e-scooter maker

Shinsei Bank, SMBC Venture Capital, and Aizawa Securities also took part in the round.

Set up in 2010 and headquartered in Tokyo, Terra Motors has overseas affiliates in Vietnam and the Philippines. It manufactures the A4000i, said to be the world's first smart phone-connected e-scooter. The bike, which has max speed of 65 kilometers per hour and a range of around 65 kilometers, uploads driving information - via an iPhone application - which can then be monitored on the web.

Nobuyuki Idei, former president of Sony Corporation, Koichiro Tsujino, former Google Japan president, and Kenji Yamamoto, former president of Apple Japan, are among the firm's early backers.

According to a release, the company will use this latest round of funding to improve production capabilities in Vietnam and the Philippines, and then expand into other Asian geographies. It will initially look to enter India and Bangladesh before moving out to Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand. Its plan is to achieve 100,000 unit sales in Asian markets by 2015.

"Generally speaking, electric vehicles tend to be thought of as a means of mobility in Europe and in America," said Toru Tokushige, CEO and founder of Terra Motors. "But with regards to electric two and three-wheelers, their main market is Asia."

Tokushige added that more than 30 million units of electric two-wheelers were sold in China in 2013. Meanwhile, they are gaining traction in counties like India and in Bangladesh, mainly due to the high price of gasoline.

 

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• Topics
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