BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Rotorua, New Zealand-headquartered start-up Bike Matrix has announced a successful $2M capital raise in its push to become the industry solution for parts compatibility.
The business, which now counts “over 80 component brands in our corner, and strategic partnerships with leading bicycle brands underway” also saw a successful Eurobike 2024 attendance, crowned with the winning of a Eurobike Award.
Industry partners supporting development
Townsend comments: “Our intention was always for this product to be ‘by the bike industry, for the bike industry’ because we wanted the support of the industry in providing accurate and up-to-date product information to our customers, and their customers.
With more than 25,000 bikes in the Bike Matrix Ltd database, the business saw its second beta-test site go live, enabling customers and staff alike to choose a bike, from an extensive list of brands:
Avanti, Bianchi Bicycles, Cannondale, Canyon Bicycles GmbH, Cervélo, Commencal Bikes, Cube Bikes, Felt Bicycles, Focus Bikes, Koninklijke Gazelle, Giant Bicycle, GT Bicycles, Juliana, Kona Bicycle Company, Lapierre Bikes, Liv Cycling, Marin Bikes, Merida, Mondraker, Norco Bikes, Orbea, Pinarello, Pivot Cycles, Polygon Group, Rocky Mountain, Salsa Cycles, Santa Cruz Bicycles, Scott Sports SA, Specialized Bicycle Components, Surly Bikes, Transition, and Trek Bicycle…
At this stage, the solution is able to show which brake pads are compatible, as well as which chain, cassette, bottom bracket, headset, brake adapter or wheelset is compatible.
A steady path toward full product launch
Speaking with BikeBiz in early 2023 Adam Townsend made it clear that the goal of Bike Matrix is “to connect the bike industry through product data and to be the most trusted and widely used bike parts compatibility solution in the global bike industry.”
Co-founded by Adam Townsend and Lyndal Bailey, the Bike Matrix team expanded in March of 2023 with the arrival of Adam Barnes, who joined the team as tech co-founder. Barnes comes from a financial services sector background with experience delivering and supporting technology solutions for global consumer banks.
Of the arrival of Barnes, Adam Townsend, Bike Matrix founder commented: “Adam definitely shares our vision and our passion for solving the bike parts compatibility problem and we’re pretty chuffed to have someone of his skills and experience on the team to design and build our industry-changing solution.”
With beta testing underway with deployment of the tech on selected retailer websites, this enables the business to learn from real customer interactions and quantify the commercial value the solution delivers for businesses, brands, and customers alike.
