UVC Partners returned to back Fazua together with the electric bike drive system maker's other existing investors and an EIB-run venture debt provider.
Germany-based electric bike drive system maker Fazua has procured €15m ($16.5m) of financing from investors including Unternehmertum Venture Capital (UVC) Partners, the venture capital unit allied to Technical University Munich’s tech transfer office, Unternehmertum.
The round includes a $3.3m tranche led by UVC Partners and backed by Fazua’s other existing investors, including public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Bavarian state-owned investment firm Bayern Kapital’s Wachstumsfonds Bayern and undisclosed angel investors.
Fazua received the remaining $13.2m as debt from the EU-owned European Investment Bank under its Venture Debt Product scheme.
Founded in 2013, Fazua produces drive systems containing components that power hybrid e-bikes, where the cyclist can switch between manual pedalling and electric propulsion.
Sold to manufacturers of e-bike products, Fazua’s drive systems have a lightweight form factor intended to protect the natural sensation of cycling while in electric mode.
The company’s clients at present include more than 35 e-bike makers in Europe producing a variety of different bicycle subtypes. Proceeds from the round will aid its efforts to shore up further business growth.
UVC Partners also led an $8m round for Fazua in March 2018, investing along with HTGF, Bayern Kapital’s Wachstumsfonds Bayern unit and assorted angel investors, after the same backers had featured in the company’s $3.2m series B in 2017, though on that occasion Bayern Kapital invested directly.
HTGF and Bayern Kapital joined unnamed investors for a series A round of undisclosed size in 2015, after the pair had already supplied a seed sum of undisclosed size the previous year alongside one angel investor.
Benjamin Erhart, partner at UVC Partners, said: “With its consistent and profitable growth since our first investment in 2017, we are proud to double down on Fazua as it increases its footprint in the billion euro and fast-growing e-bike market.”
– Feature image courtesy of Fazua
