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Collin Furtado · · 4 min readTVS Motor to buy Ion Mobility at a discount: sources
Ion Mobility, a Singapore-based electric bike startup, is being acquired by TVS Motor at a discount, multiple sources told Tech in Asia. The Indian two-wheeler manufacturer became a strategic investor of Ion Mobility in February 2023.
James Chan, founder and CEO of Ion Mobility, did not deny the acquisition but declined to elaborate when Tech in Asia probed further.
An EV bike from Ion Mobility / Photo credit: Ion Mobility
“Basically, the shareholders get back 10 cents to a dollar, and the rest of the cash is to incentivize the management team,” says a person who has direct knowledge of the deal.
TVS Motor has infused Ion Mobility with over US$24 million in the last two years. The investor first pumped US$18.7 million in a series A top-up round in February 2023, followed by an additional US$5.5 million in March 2024. These investments increased its stake in Ion Mobility to 47.5%, according to Alternatives.pe data and TVS Motor’s filings.
Tech in Asia has reached out to TVS Motor multiple times for comment, but the company has yet to respond.
Tooling delay
Given the extensive capital required to make and sell EV bikes in the challenging economic climate, Ion Mobility chose not to raise a new funding round, another source told Tech in Asia.
Founded in 2019, Ion Mobility has amassed about US$31 million in total disclosed funding. It has been operating for five years, but the startup struggled to get its EV bike on the road.
Despite the soft launch of its M1-S model in Jakarta in November 2022, the firm faced delivery delays to customers who had placed pre-orders.
A low-volume trial production of the M1-S at Ion Mobility’s factory in Karawang, Indonesia / Photo credit: Ion Mobility
In December 2024, Ion Mobility’s Chan announced in a blog post that his company would be issuing full refunds to all customers who had pre-ordered M1-S. The decision came about after Ion Mobility missed “intended shipping dates twice” and had to halt pre-orders altogether.
“We will be in a much better position to relaunch the Ion M1-S in 2025, once we have resolved all our production issues,” wrote Chan.
The manufacturing issues stemmed from tooling delays that particularly affected the EV bike’s chassis or frame. Tooling refers to the crucial process of making tools that meet design specifications to mass produce various automobile parts.
What’s next?
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The Indian maker of two-wheelers hopes the acquisition will help in cracking Indonesia, a key market for Ion Mobility.
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