It’s time to put the brakes on bike thieves with LINKA – the world’s first connected, auto-unlocking bike lock. Our innovative, keyless product is fully controlled by your smartphone – which allows for auto-unlocking, gives tamper alerts, and even makes safe parking recommendations. It’s also mounted on your bike permanently, meaning no fumbling around with keys and no wasting time. After a long day of work and hoping to begin the commute home via bike, the last thing anyone wants to do is to dig into their bag, fumbling around to find the right key.
LINKA debuted in the European market on August 31st at EuroBike 2016. The response received was overwhelmingly positive! Retailers, Distributors and Bike Manufacturers flocked to our booth nonstop to coordinate how we can partner up and we’ve received multiple exclusivity requests. We’re finalizing details with 2 German distributors that have access to over 3,500 retailers as well as direct manufacturing and a sales force of over 25 to penetrate the market fast. This doesn’t include the distributors from Austria, Switzerland, France, Scandinavia and the UK. We’re on track to send shockwaves through the market with distribution for early 2017 (beginning of the bike season).
We’ve built relationships with the largest bike brands (Giant, Trek, Accell Group) in the world to co-develop integrated locking solutions for their newest high-tech electric bikes.
These features, along with a host of others, are set to combat the world’s bike thieves and get you more time on the road.
There is no one in the market today that does what LINKA does and we’re shipping!
This is a huge opportunity to stamp our name as market leaders.
Six-figure sales have been made, and a number of partners have jumped on our handlebars already – there’s plenty of room for others!
Biking is back! Around the world, people are conjuring up memories of their childhoods – tossing their car keys aside for a two-wheeled ride. Their journeys aren’t limited to just trips around the block, either; as bicycle commuting experienced staggering growth of 105% from 2000-2013 in cities with bike-friendly infrastructures. An increasingly health and environmentally-conscious consumer is leading to similar growth around the world. The surge is even being influenced by technology – with electric bike sales are soaring and gaining market share globally. For example, 1 in 5 bikes sold in The Netherlands is now an electric bike.
But because of this influx of riders (and their high-priced equipment), the thieves are coming calling. Bicycle theft has always been an issue; but has recently become a huge, large-scale battle that cyclers are losing.
Lock keys are also constantly fumbled and misplaced. Riders want to be able to lock up quickly and even share their bikes with friends, but lack a convenient and secure way to do so.
Putting it simply, there is a massive need for a better bicycle security solution. Factor in the emerging popularity of expensive electric bikes – and the more comprehensive security that they require – and the situation gets even more pressing. Our health, the environment, and our childhood memories are at stake!
At LINKA, we’re bringing peace of mind to the burgeoning biking community with our new smart bike lock. Taking advantage of the awesome potential of the IoT (Internet of Things), our seasoned team of product engineers has produced the world’s first connected, auto-unlocking wheel lock. With our keyless solution, riders can trade in their lock keys for smartphone-based convenience – giving them non-stop control of bike security. When a bike is tampered with, LINKA’s 100 dB siren is triggered while sending a tamper alert right to your phone.
Compatible with over 85% of bikes on the market, LINKA locks have great potential as a widespread security solution – and are putting riders back in front in the ongoing battle with thieves. But for as secure as they are, they’re also incredibly convenient. Our locks are quickly and easily mounted to bikes upon first use, meaning no carrying locks and keys around and no risk of misplacing.
Groundbreaking consumer products don’t materialize without a commitment to technology. Using bluetooth, a long range antenna, and an accelerometer, LINKA gives users instant alerts to their smartphones if their bike is in jeopardy, up to 100 meters away. In addition, we’ve successfully designed it as a low energy consumer that can go up to 9 months before needing a recharge. Perhaps most interestingly, we’ve built an activity tracking technology into the LINKA app that allows users, admins, and insurance companies to track recent activities on the bike. The type of information we capture includes where bikes are receiving the most tamper activity, movement patterns, locking locations, lockup length, and more. This opens up a huge opportunity on the data realm – as bike fleet managers, infrastructure leaders, and others could really benefit from an analytical edge.
Check out a few more awesome features that our tech commitment has led to:
Always find your bike, right from your smartphone. This feature reminds you where you left it and takes you right there – no more aimless street wandering!
Equipped with AES public key encryption, your bike is safe from even the smartest of thieves and hackers.
LINKA is built to last. Ride in the rain, snow or dirt and count on LINKA to lock up everytime!
We’re in the process of taking LINKA’s potential even further by introducing a long-range bluetooth 4.0 finder (400 foot range). We’ll also instantly inform you if you wander out of range.
We all misplace our phones from time to time – but this is no issue with LINKA. Simply enter your own 4-digit phoneless access code onto your LINKA, and you’re off.
Despite its amazing ability to secure, the LINKA weighs only 1.6 pounds. You won’t even notice it as you cruise around town – and beyond!
We’ve come quite a long way in a short amount of time. The first LINKA product was launched in May 2015, a little over a year after company inception. Since then, we launched a very successful Kickstarter campaign that’s netting us 50% down payments on all pre-orders. While this capital is helping to keep us afloat, our seed funding round is what will really allow us to ramp up marketing – which is why it’s our key focus at the moment. With a keen eye on the present and on what lies ahead, we’re reminded of a few more impressive accomplishments:
Testing complete. We put the wraps on all rounds of prototyping and testing in January 2016. The LINKA was tested to 15,000 actuations, including water resistance and attack testing.
Production started, and sales made. We’ve already begun production and LINKAs are flying off the (virtual) shelves! Through a now 8-month relationship with our reliable manufacturing partner, we’ve sold 3,500 units for $180,000 in revenue with next to no marketing.
Partners want us. We’re constantly closing agreements with distributors, including 2 secured distributors (2,000 retailers) and 3 more in the final agreement stage. Bike manufacturers and bike sharing companies are knocking down the doors too, including Giant, Sparta/Accell, Cycleurope, and Bikevertising.
IP protection. Based on USPTO correspondence, we’ll be issued our patent (filed mid-2014) by the end of the year. A PCT patent (covering 148 nations) has also been filed and we have just recently received approval for patent issuance – meaning our patent number should be coming soon!
The press is noticing. Our list of positive media mentions includes writeups from Cyclingweekly, Telegraph UK, and Gizmag. We even appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank!
If you’re interested in what lies ahead for the future of LINKA, please request access to our profile’s private side!
LINKA’s roots can be traced back to 1990s New York, where our biking-crazed Founder grew naturally paranoid about the safety of his “wheels”. After delving into the market, and discovering a number of pain points, his passion for bettering the world of bike security blossomed into a mission – and LINKA was born. Let’s meet our visionary, and the pair of execs that support him:
Mohamed Mohamed, CEO – Our Founder and leader is a natural-born entrepreneur who loves operating in startup environments. His extensive product development background, which includes time with Toyota, Hyundai and Solarcity/Zepsolar (a startup he helped get acquired), has given Mohamed the expertise needed to wear many hats. That’s exactly what he’ll do for us – responsible for R&D, product creation, future development, and marketing.
Herman Kam, Director of Operations – Herman has a great chemistry with Mohamed after working with him for a decade. After their shared management stint with Toyota, he went on to work with CitiBank before joining LINKA. Accounting, purchasing, and financial management are his top responsibilities.
Arno Nijman, Director of Sales – Arno has extensive sales experience, especially with startups in the EU/Benelux (one of our primary markets). He will oversee distributor and insurance sales in these markets, as well as providing valuable marketing insight.
Though our executive team is more than capable, having the support of a strongBoard of Advisors makes us even more powerful. The well-rounded Board consists of these 3 members: