David Wertheimer and celebrity-backed venture fund announce new investment in Danish e-bike sensation MATE

Danish e-bike brand MATE, made famous by record-breaking crowdfunding, secures multi-million euro direct investment from Mirabaud Asset Management through the Mirabaud Lifestyle Impact and Innovation fund (MLII), prompting David Wertheimer, Founding Partner of MLII, to call MATE "by far the most fashionable e-bike brand." Existing investors Marcy Venture Partners doubles down ahead of anticipated next ?drop.'

Mirabaud Lifestyle Impact and Innovation (MLII), an investment fund managed by Mirabaud Asset Management, part of the CHF34bn Mirabaud Group, has entered into an agreement with Danish e-bike brand and company MATE.mothership A/S (MATE) for a ?3m investment. According to the founders, the funds will help fuel further growth and enable MATE to pursue its targets, integrating a strategic vision under Mirabaud's guidance for further development of MATE's brand, products, distribution, operations and people:

"Since our inception, MATE has successfully developed, launched and sold tens of thousands of high end e-bikes that transcend the void between fashion and biking. The confidence shown by our investors is a stamp of approval; not only of our vision to bring more people on bikes and deal with today's challenges such as traffic congestion and climate change by creating cool, fun and sexy electric bicycles, but to turn MATE into a global brand leader fit for today's generation that can fulfil market potential, scale sales and grow above and beyond the +50 markets we're in," says sibling founders Christian Adel Michael and Julie Kronstrøm Carton who launched their first MATE e-bike on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo in 2016, managing to raise ?5.8m in its first closing.

Mirabaud on the board

Ever since their first launch, MATE has experienced tremendous success with marketing e-bikes on Indiegogo, securing them a ?10m fundraise for their second e-bike MATE X in its first closing, which went on to break the de facto European crowdfunding record with appx. ?15m raised when the MATE X campaign ended in 2019. Lately, MATE has succeeded in opening flagship stores in Copenhagen and Tokyo and is currently working with 15 partners worldwide to grow its retail sales. According to David Wertheimer, Founding Partner of MLII, it is MATE's ability to demonstrate strong capacity in rapidly building its brand equity and growing in a large number of geographies that has made MLII co-invest along existing investors such as Marcy Venture Partners (MVP) who earlier in 2021 announced their first investment in MATE.

"From a fashion perspective, MATE shows iconic designs which have been recognized by consumers since the beginning. MATE already owns global celebrity clients and has recently launched great collaborations with lifestyle luxury brands, making MATE by far the most fashionable e-bike brand. Simultaneously, MATE has managed to build in this short period a solid and interactive community of users. Those users are loyal to the brand and show tremendous growth potential thanks to its constant innovation drive," says David Wertheimer, who has appointed Gael Ruiz as board member and is looking forward to embarking on new endeavours with the MATE team as well as with current investors MVP, who have used the occasion to double down and increase their investment in MATE.

MATE: "Best yet to come"

And new endeavours could be in store quite soon with a new model to be launched in 2021, which will be backed by popular demand, vows Christian Adel Michael and Julie Kronstrøm Carton. Ever since the release of the MATE X, anticipation for MATE's next release or ?drop', as it is colloquially called online, have been higher than ever before on online fan forums. What the MATE siblings have in store this time remains a secret for now, however, the siblings note that MATE will be aiming "for the moon":

"MATE's agility and ability to move fast and captivate consumer audiences with its audacious and unapologetic style is backed by popular demand with Indiegogo's audiences, and with Covid hopefully coming to an end soon and people wanting to get out there and explore the world again, the best could be yet to come with this next drop," concludes Christian Adel Michael and Julie Kronstrøm Carton, noting that further information about MATE's next most anticipated product release to date will be launched this year in Q3 2021.

Mirabaud Lifestyle Impact and Innovation (MLII)

MLII, created in 2020, is a specialised private equity fund that looks to invest globally to support the development of fast-growing upcoming brands and to accompany the development of disruptive B2B players in the fashion, lifestyle and technology ecosystem.

Recent investments of MLII include Berlin-based influential media company Highsnobiety and Singapore-headquartered e-commerce service provider Intrepid Group.

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