Seattle-based electric bike company Rad Power Bikes, which raised $154 million in October, should be crossing the 1,200 employee mark in the near future.
Rad Power Chief Financial Officer Mark Klebanoff said the company currently has 625 employees and plans to at least double that number a year from now. Rad Power currently has about 150 open roles listed on its website.
Rad Power's recent massive funding round builds on a $150 million investment the company secured in February, when the company told the Business Journal it had hit 325 employees in 2020.
"The business is experiencing explosive growth," Klebanoff said. "We're launching new bikes and accessories. We have a pretty good track record of doing that historically, and we plan to continue doing that going forward."
Rad Power also plans to grow its retail and service footprint with the funds. In addition to its Ballard headquarters, the company currently has four retail stores: Vancouver, British Columbia; Utrecht, Netherlands; San Diego; and Berkeley, California. San Diego and Berkeley were added this year, said Klebanoff, who added the company wants to triple its number of retail stores. He said Europe is an even bigger electric bike market than North America, and the company wants to grow its presence there.
Rad Power, founded in 2007, has more than a dozen models of electric bikes. According to the company, Rad Power has more than 350,000 riders in more than 30 countries. The company also has commercial partnerships, such as providing Dominos Pizza Inc. delivery employees with electric bikes. Rad Power also has teams in China and Taiwan.
Klebanoff said Rad Power is particularly focused on offering its electric bikes as car replacements.
Rad Power has gone a slightly different route than many venture-backed startups by securing funding from mature firms not generally associated with venture capital. The investors in its recent $154 million round, for example, include Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Morgan Stanley. Klebanoff declined to discuss Rad Power's future financing plans but praised the company's backers.
"These are more mature, later-stage investors, and they are, we think, the right kinds of investors for Rad at this stage at its business," Klebanoff said.
