A UK e-bike company whose kit turns an ordinary bicycle into an electric one with a removable handlebar power pack.
Swytch makes a kit that lets you convert the bike you already own into an electric bike. The main part is a compact, removable power unit that fixes to the handlebars, with a front wheel motor, so you can switch between pedalling normally and getting assistance. The company says the original prototype was developed over about two years, between 2016 and 2017, and that its design features are patent-pending. The idea is that people can keep a bike they already like instead of buying a whole new one.
The company says it is on a mission to help transform transport and make electric bikes affordable and accessible to everyone, and also to make e-bikes a more eco-friendly technology. It says a Swytch kit takes roughly 50kg of carbon dioxide to make, about eight times lower than a new e-bike (a company claim). Its listed values include good materials and finish, engineering excellence, innovation, customer service and putting customers first.
Swytch was founded in 2017 by Oliver Montague and Dmitro Khroma and launched through crowdfunding on Indiegogo. It was ranked in the Startups 100 UK list in 2020. It describes its team as British engineers with years of experience in electric bike conversion. A careers listing also exists. We did not find its exact head office or town in the pages we read, so we cannot say where in the UK it is based.
On culture, the company says it values teamwork, fun, and diverse ideas, and that its progress came from people sharing those ideas. This is the company's own description. Customer service and aftercare are named as a core value, so support staff and engineers work closely together. It also says riders using its kits had logged a combined 1 million miles and that over 3,000 kits went to more than 45 countries in 2018, which are company claims from that year. The Startups 100 list, which ranks UK start-ups, placed it 25th in 2020. Its listed company page and a Welcome to the Jungle profile show it recruits, and the About page says it thinks of its products as enjoyable to use, so expect a team that cares about how the product feels as well as how it works. The kit is described as lightweight, simple and removable, designed to fit almost any bike.
Roles in a company like this are likely to include design and electronics engineering, product testing, logistics, marketing and customer support. It is a useful example of a small UK team taking an engineering idea to customers worldwide.
Website: www.swytchbike.com
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