Arevo, a Vietnamese carbon fibre pioneer, has announced that 96% of its Superstrata-branded custom-made carbon fibre bikes have been fulfilled.
Backed by an Indiegogo crowdfunding project, launched in early 2020, the company quickly gained more than US$7 million in donations followed by US$25m in Series B funding.
“When we started this journey more than two years ago, we expected fulfilment to take months, not years,” said Arevo CEO Sonny Vu. “We never imagined our campaign would receive 72 times the support we expected – or that a global pandemic, war, and economic downturn would follow.
“Today’s outcome was only possible because of our backers’ faithful support and our team members’ unstoppable commitment.”
Arevo’s Superstrata-branded custom carbon fibre bikes are notable in that manufacturing is based on a scaled-up carbon 3D-printing process.
Since its crowdfunding launch, the company has gained recognition along the way, winning acclaim from Red Dot, Good Design, A’ Design, European Product Design, Core77 Design and more. Superstrata Factory Pass is an immersive, behind the scenes experience that allows customers to go beyond the factory gates and into the 3D printing process. It was created for bike fulfillment.
96% of Indiegogo backer perks have now been fulfilled, totalling 3,301 custom 3D-printed carbon fibre bikes and e-bikes produced for 2,858 backers at Superstrata’s facilities in Vietnam.
What was initially intended to act as a case study of Arevo’s carbon fibre printing technology gained complexity in a period defined by a lack of sufficient printing capacity, bike component shortages, and skyrocketing shipping costs.
Superstrata cut expenses to keep the company on track and placed Indiegogo campaign perk fulfillment above all else. 150 workers from the factory and professionals offered to move in for three months after the local pandemic shut down the streets.
Arevo CEO Sonny Vu said “It’s almost laughable that we applied our industrial 3D printing technology to a consumer product category (bikes) with which we had no experience, but doing so battle-tested our processes in ways we never thought necessary.
“Whether our next frontier is aerospace, defence, or an emerging category that has yet to be named, one thing is certain: few things could be more complex than manufacturing a bike in 2021.”
www.arevo.com