Selex Motors received $2.1 M in funding to expand in-house vehicle production
Touchstone Partners led a seed fundraising round for Vietnamese smart mobility firm Selex Motors JSC, which secured US $2.1 million.
ADB Ventures, the Asian Development Bank’s venture capital arm, and Nextrans, a Korean venture capital firm, also took part.
Selex plans to utilise the funds to grow its research and development activities, increase its in-house production capability for cars and battery packs at its new plant in the Hanoi area, and begin deployment with early customers, according to a news release.
The firm also wants to expand into other Southeast Asian nations now that its new production plant is up and running.
CEO Nguyen Nguyen, Chief Mechanical Engineer Hai Nguyen, and Chief Software Engineer Quang Nguyen launched Selex in 2018. It has patents for developing and manufacturing smart electric motorcycles (EMs).
With its ecologically friendly and cost-effective solutions, the firm targets the neglected B2B market (especially last-mile deliveries for the logistics sector).
The EMs, which were designed specifically for the logistics industry, can move bigger and bulkier goods than passenger motorcycles modified for the purpose. To boost efficiency even further, they’re outfitted with exclusive IoT technologies and sophisticated fleet management features.
Selex says that their products are competitively priced and that they help customers save money, including 50% on maintenance and 25% on gasoline.
For delivery giants like Viettel Post (a large parcel carrier in Vietnam) and Lazada Logistics, the business has electrified delivery vehicles and set up battery swap stations (a logistics arm of e-commerce giant Lazada).
Vietnam has almost 50 million motorcycles, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. It is recognised as the world’s fourth-largest motorcycle market (behind China, India, and Indonesia).
These motorcycles consume around $5 billion in fuel each year and account for half of all vehicle carbon emissions.
“There are few larger or more urgent challenges facing the world today than climate change, and Selex has identified an unserved and growing market where it can make an impact,” said Tu Ngo, general partner at Touchstone Partners.
