HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following two years of anticipation, carbon fiber pioneer Arevo announced the successful fulfillment of 96% of their Superstrata-branded custom carbon fiber e-bikes. The Indiegogo crowdfunding project launched in a pre-Covid 2020 and quickly gained more than $7 million in donations.
“When we started this journey more than two years ago, we expected fulfillment 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.”
While the intervening period saw other companies dissolve and crowdfunding campaigns disappear without fulfilling perks, Superstrata trimmed expenses and prioritized perk fulfillment above all else. When local shutdowns closed city streets, 150 factory workers and professional staff volunteered to move into the factory for three months to continue production.
Such determination paid off. Harnessing the unique power of additive manufacturing for continuous improvement without retooling, Superstrata’s weight and quality improved with every batch. Feedback from early backers improved the rider experience as the e-bike’s frame weight fell to just 1.5kg (before battery, motor, and components).
96% of Indiegogo backer perks have now been fulfilled, totalling 3,301 custom 3D-printed carbon fiber bikes and e-bikes produced for 2,858 backers at Superstrata’s facilities in Vietnam.
The brand gained notable recognition along the way, winning acclaim from Red Dot, Good Design, A’ Design, European Product Design, Core77 Design and more. Bike fulfillment also set the stage for a trial run of Superstrata Factory Pass, an immersive, behind-the-scenes experience that takes customers beyond the factory gates and transparency into the 3D-printing process itself.
What was initially intended to act as a case study of Arevo’s carbon fiber printing technology gained complexity in a span defined by a lack of sufficient printing capacity, bike component shortages, and skyrocketing shipping costs. Yet Superstrata surmounted the hurdles and emerged stronger as a result.
Sufficiently battle-tested, Arevo’s carbon fiber printing technology is now ready for its next application. Vu elaborated: “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, defense, 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.”
About Arevo
Arevo is a technology company that automates the design and fabrication of large, geometrically complex, continuous CFRP composite products through a suite of innovations in materials science, robotics and design software. Application areas span consumer, industrial, automotive, heavy industries, construction and aerospace sectors.
