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Five from Finland

Bikes

These Finnish companies are pedalling fast to get noticed on the global biking scene!

Julia Helminen

In celebration of spring, dust off the two-wheeler and take a spin with these bike-related Finnish companies.

With the weather improving rapidly this time of year, getting about on two wheels is a great way to kick-start the warmer months. These five bike-related Finnish companies are at your service.

Pole Bicycles’ high-end mountain bikes are designed, engineered and built in Finland.

Pole Bicycles / Facebook

Founded in 2013, this high-end mountain bike producer focuses on getting off-road with a range of two-wheelers that go to great lengths to provide a superior riding experience. Taking an innovative approach to the industry and willing to push boundaries, the company strives to produce safe, reliable and agile bikes.

"We test everything and try to be scientific with product design," said founder and CEO Leo Kokkonen. "We are also thinking differently and openly; we have not founded the company on secrets or a simple-minded stubborn way to think."

Putting values before money, Pole Bicycles focuses on sustainability and ethical production. All bikes are built at the company’s own factory in Finland with no carbon composites involved in the process, making the products environmentally sustainable and recyclable.

Pelago believes that a bike is the perfect tool for self-expression.

Pelago / Facebook

For Pelago, creating stylish bikes is not just about making money; it’s also about the desire to represent cycling and enhance the overall cycling experience for consumers.

Sparked by a passion for cycling and founded in 2009, the company has been expanding steadily ever since with many distributors across Europe and beyond, including the US, Chile, Mexico, South Korea and Japan.

With exports making up a significant share of the sales, Pelago believes that the “Finnishness” of the bikes is a good selling point as there’s a certain exotic element to owning a Finnish bicycle.

“As cars have been the traditional status symbol, maybe bicycles can be too,” noted co-founder Timo Hyppönen. “They say something about people’s values.”

REVONTE

Revonte’s e-bike drive system has many features, including theft alarm and tracking.

Revonte

While the demand for ecological transport is heating up around the globe, this Tampere-based startup is set to shake up the industry by turning e-bikes into fully customisable platforms. Instead of making e-bikes of its own, the company focuses on designing a software-first solution that offers unprecedented options for e-bike manufacturers and end-users alike. 

The market response has been strong. Over a short period of time, the Revonte ONE drive system has become the leading choice for powering e-bikes even in such a demanding category as cargo e-bikes. 

“Our long-term plan is to be a market leader in the business,” stated CEO and co-founder Otto Chrons. “A different thing is how you measure it; I don’t think we’re aiming for the biggest volumes or turnover, but rather a feel or a sense of leadership.”

Ouca Bikes builds its electric cargo bicycles to be “the most robust and ecological solution for carrying goods, people and tools”.

Ouca Bikes

Disappointed by electric cargo bicycles available on the market, Oulu-based entrepreneurs Tuomas Alapuranen and Jani Sipilä decided in 2019 to start building their own cargo e-bikes, focusing on quality, durability and sustainability. As a result, Ouca Bikes, with its fresh and innovative approach to cargo e-bike design, was born.

According to Sipilä, the European cargo bike market is growing rapidly, with two million units projected to be sold in 2030. Ouca Bikes is planning to lead the pack with three different models, tested in the harsh conditions of Northern Finland. These are Ouca Space, aimed at courier services; Ouca Transport, a highly versatile e-bike for transporting both goods and people; and Ouca Kiddiebus, designed for transporting up to eight children.

“We receive inquires from all over the world almost every day,” said Sipilä. “So Ouca’s durability compared to traditional cargo bikes has been widely noticed. In the future, in addition to sales in Finland, we are looking for strong international growth. The future looks good in our industry.”

Yeply has become Europe’s fastest growing maintenance ecosystem for bicycles and bike-like vehicles.

Yeply

What’s the point of having a bike if it’s not rolling nicely? This fast evolving startup founded in 2016 by two childhood friends conveniently brings bike service straight to your doorstep. Yeply has a fleet of vans transformed into service stations that drive around neighbourhoods and service bikes, returning them ready the same day.

What significantly boosts the company’s operational efficiency and makes it very different from the competitors is a specially developed digital platform that records every bike, service and customer, as well as offers real-time insight on the company’s sales and marketing.

“This is a very different approach from traditional brick-and-mortar shops,” stressed co-founder Tommi Särkkinen. “We like biking, but we also want to create a profitable business.”

Currently active in in Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, Yeply last year secured 2.5 million euros in a seed funding round led by Helsinki-headquartered Inventure and is well positioned to become “the largest bicycle maintenance service provider” in Europe.

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22.05.2023
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