Electric e-bikesa Phoenix, Arizona-based company known for its practical and affordable XP Series electric bikes has launched three new brands so far this year — a relaunch of Juiced Bikes, a new Juiced Powersports brand, and now a premium adventure brand called Monarc — an expansion strategy that runs counter to the wave of bankruptcies.
Together, Lectric has committed about $10 million to these initiatives, CEO Levi Conlow told TechCrunch.
“Others may be retiring or raising money, we’re actually developing and investing in initiatives like this,” he said. “I really don’t think the market is saturated right now. Lectric last month was the best-selling in our company’s existence and we sold almost 30,000 bikes. I’m not sure anyone has done that before, even at the height of COVID.”
It might seem like an odd time to launch an e-bike brand, let alone three.
Over the past couple of years, many e-bike companies have filed for bankruptcy, closed, or languished until they were acquired by larger companies. Rad Power Bikes, the buzzed-about electric bike company that raised nearly $330 million in venture capital, was perhaps the biggest bust. The company, once valued at $1.65 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. Its assets were acquired by Life Electric Vehicles Holdings for $13.2 million.
“To me, it just opened it up,” Conlow said of the market after listing a dozen companies that had closed or exited the U.S. market. “I think the market lacks a lot of worthy competition right now.”
The opposite bet has an opposite story. Conlow and co-founder Robby Deziel never raised venture capital, instead growing the business, which they founded seven years ago as childhood friends, before getting an investment from private equity firm Bertram Capital Management in 2020. What started as a scrappy startup is now one of the top-selling direct-to-consumer e-bike companies in the U.S. 50 bike-shipping units 2025.
The playbook — bootstrap, stay profitable, let better-funded competitors implode, then expand — is one that founders in all hardware categories might find instructive. But Conlow is watching how Lectrick grows. Trying to sell e-bikes to every kind of customer risks weakening the brand, he said.
“What we’ve learned is that Lectric can’t be everything to everyone,” he said, before pointing to its wide range of products, which includes folding bikes and an electric tricycle. The company sells 90% of its products directly to consumers through its website, which, depending on the month, attracts 2 to 4 million visitors.
The solution is to keep the brands separate or risk dilution. Prominently featuring a Juiced Bikes model on Lectric’s home page, for example, can distract from Lectric’s best-selling XP line, sending the wrong signal to the wrong customer.
“You have to be much more intentional, and when you’re more focused, you can go very deep in that industry; you can make the customer service, branding and marketing specific to that product and that company,” he said.
That’s what Lectric has done with Juiced Bikes, Juiced Powersports — which will launch its first e-moto in August — and the Monarc. Juiced Bikes was acquired by Lectric in 2025 and relaunched last month, while Monarc, which began as a skunkworks project within Lectric, emerged this week as a standalone Minnesota-based brand led by vets Julia Moran and Ryan Callahan.
Each brand has its own engineering and product development, branding, marketing and customer service teams. Conlow takes this separation a step further, noting that he even wants brands to compete with each other.
“We don’t want three brands that end up looking and performing the same or feeling the same. There should be healthy competition between [them]”, he said.
Monarc builds on its leading lifestyle adventure capabilities and customer service strategy that includes a five-year warranty and phone support with real people. (Conlow was quick to note that none of its brands will ever use AI for customer service.)
Monarc’s first e-bike, an all-terrain electric trail bike called the Marker, will come standard with two LG 48 volt 15Ah batteries – an offering that is unusual in the e-bike sector – that provide 720 watt-hours each and are UL 2271 certified. The batteries also come with a 5 amp fast charger. The Marker, which will start shipping to customers in July, is equipped with other premium features such as a Bafang motor, Shimano drivetrain and a 3.5-inch color touchscreen that can be synced with other accessories such as reversing radar and smart helmets.
Monarc and the two Juiced brands are small, with 10 and eight employees, respectively, although they are expected to expand. Lectric itself has 170 employees. The brands operate independently but leverage Lectric’s supply chain, buying power and support support.
Whether Lectric will continue to launch new independent brands is an open question. Conlow kept the outlook open: “We’re continuing to explore and keep our eyes open.” But he’s in no rush. “We’ve got our plate very full and we’re going to stay focused on that.”
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