Before there was CLIP, there was Som Ray biking to work in Brooklyn.
“It was awesome. It was healthy, felt good, but very soon, it became a chore,” he said. Ray would show up sweaty, out of breath and tired. But purchasing an e-bike was out of the question: it cost thousands of dollars, the bikes weighed a ton, and besides, he had just purchased a new bicycle. He knew there must be a better solution.
“Maybe I can just put something on this bike and make it electric?” he mused.
Ray, a mobility designer and CLIP’s chief executive officer, was inspired by other attempts to convert bikes into e-bikes, notably the Copenhagen Wheel. But these options were prohibitively expensive and needed to be professionally installed. He wanted to build something that could easily be attached and removed from a bicycle, no tools necessary.
Looking for inspiration, Ray and his brother-in-law, Clem de Alcala, now CLIP’s chief operating officer, studied the designs of French manufacturer VéloSoleX. The company’s SoleX bike, famously adopted by the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen, was created in post-war France. Marketed as a cross between a bike and a moped, the SoleX had a small motor mounted to the front wheel and could reach 20 MPH.
Ray and de Alcala had their reference point but needed to translate the SoleX into a modern product. After three prototypes across four years, the pair found their solution.
The result is a compact motor that latches onto the front wheel of almost any bike and provides a cheaper alternative to e-bikes. The motor is connected via Bluetooth to a button a rider attaches to the handlebars and activates a pedal assistant. CLIP’s motors start at $499, whereas e-bikes clock in at $1,100 on the low end. The electrical motor charges in an hour and can help riders reach up to 15 MPH, propelling them between 6-12 miles on a single charge.
CLIP has raised a total of $4.75 million across three seed rounds and employs 10 workers. The company has shipped 400 devices so far and is scaling manufacturing in India to reach a monthly production capacity of 500 units by the end of the year.
Deborah Diamond, who lives outside Seattle, is one of CLIP’s early adopters. She and her partner wanted to bike, but the hills on Vashon Island where they live presented a major challenge for the 74-year-old couple.
“We didn't like how heavy the electric bikes were. We had tried out various ones, and they were too heavy for us to lift them up into a vehicle or onto the bike rack,” said Diamond. “[CLIP] seemed ideal. That we could get something that was portable, that we could put off and on the bike, and that would still give us the boost to be able to go up hills.”
Soon after receiving their CLIP, they began biking more regularly, starting with two miles a day, soon hitting three miles, then five, and so on. Diamond’s partner recently completed a 12-mile bike run just a few weeks ago. “We hadn't biked for 50 years,” she added.
The reigning Goliath: Rad Power Bikes
Electric bicycle sales have soared nationwide over the past few years. According to the most recent date, over one million bikes were sold in 2022, compared to 325,000 e-bike sales in 2018.
Rad Power Bikes, based in Seattle, is at the forefront of the e-bike craze. Founded in 2007, the company has raised nearly $330 million in funding at a $1.65 billion valuation, according to Pitchbook, and employs over 400 people. The company offers 16 different e-bike models, ranging from $1,099 to $2,199.
How to conquer the giant
In 2018, Ray and de Alcala founded CLIP and set up shop inside Newlab, a startup incubator at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Before raising a seed round, Ray built a “Mad Max kind of thing” that served as CLIP’s proof of concept.
Both remember trying out the first prototype and realizing the promise of what they were building.
“I was like, ‘shit, this works!’” recounted Ray after trying the prototype for the first time. “I called Clem, sent him the video, and he was very excited.”
De Alca recalls a ride in Prospect Park as the moment he knew they were onto something.
“I was passing this rider training [in] all spandex on a performance bike. And I passed this person on the incline in with this crazy prototype, without a sound,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s definitely a huge potential.’”
With a refined prototype in hand, the pair began reaching out to investors and centered their pitch on a low-cost mobility solution with environmental benefits.
Raising CLIP’s first seed round was tricky, Ray said. “Hardware is typically difficult to raise money for, especially if it’s a completely new product. There is always also this kind of hype around tech that software has to be a key component of it.”
But the pair pushed forward with the theory that investors and customers would follow if they could fine-tune the hardware at a low cost.
Sandiip Bhammer, founder and managing partner of Green Frontier Capital, was one of the first people to buy into Ray and de Alcala’s vision.
“When you start integrating mobility solutions, like what CLIP offers, into everyday life, it really takes away from your dependence on fossil fuels and is a significant step towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” he explained.
Bhammer went on to become one of the lead investors in CLIP’s first seed round and has a seat on the company’s board.
Within their first couple of years, the company built a list of 1,500 pre-orders, many of which they are still fulfilling as they bring in new orders. “People who are using our device, who understand what it's for,’ said Ray, “They love it.”
The next challenge
The next step in the company’s expansion is developing a new product, dubbed the “CLIP Bolt,” for emerging economies.
“You cannot change the world. You may change behavior in Western countries, but in emerging economies, you need something different,” said de Alcala. Instead of it being easily installable and removable, the “CLIP Bolt” will be screwed onto the bike wheel and will include a swappable battery riders can access through a subscription model. De Alcala wants to sell the CLIP Bolt for under $100, significantly lower than the company’s standard $499 model.
“It's a different business model and a different price point, different products, but the ambition of CLIP is to have a global impact on mobility,” added de Alcala.
Olivia Bensimon is a freelance journalist in New York City who reports on human-centered stories.
Know a New York startup you would like to see featured in a future column? Write to [email protected].
This column has been updated to clarify Som Ray's title. He was previously listed as CLIP's chief operating officer.
One of professional soccer’s most celebrated strikers is hoping to score big with his SoHo spread.
Thierry Henry, a World Cup winner, commentator and manager who played with the New York Red Bulls for four years, has listed his 6,100-square-foot triplex penthouse at 39 Crosby St. for $27.3 million, according to a listing that appeared Wednesday.
France-born Henry, who now appears to be living back in his home country and preparing for a coaching role in this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, bought the Manhattan apartment in a series of transactions in 2010 and 2011 for about $15 million, public records show, so he could potentially see an 80% return on his real estate investment.
The original deal included two levels of the triplex plus a deeded parking space, according to the city register; Henry tacked on a second parking spot a year later for $325,000. Also in 2011, after the departure of tenants, he purchased a unit below for $5.9 million, giving Henry a third level, according to the city register.
Spanning the top three floors of a condo that also goes by the address 425 Broome St., Henry’s combined aerie features five bedrooms, five full and two half-baths, and an open floor plan that gives an all-in-one loft vibe to its living room, dining room and kitchen.
The primary suite, on a different floor, opens to a terrace, part of 3,400 square feet of outdoor space that also includes a private roof deck with an outdoor kitchen and a bamboo garden.
Developed in the mid-2000s in a 5-story landmarked 19th-century building with both cast-iron and brick facades, 39 Crosby has a total of 11 apartments, according to its original offering plan. As part of the plan, the developers, members of the Malloy and DeMarinis families, layered glass-walled stories atop the existing cast-iron and brick edifices. Henry’s penthouse is tucked into that contemporary addition.
Turnover at the condo appears rare, with the last unit to trade, a one-bedroom, changing hands in an off-market transaction for $1.9 million in 2020.
When Henry bought the apartment—the same year he came to the U.S. to lend his skills as a striker to the Red Bulls—he was among the highest-played soccer players in the world. Numerous sponsorships with A-list brands, which throughout Henry’s career have included Nike, Gillette and Renault, significantly padded his base salary of around $5 million. His actual income was reportedly closer to $20 million in those years.
In 2014 Henry left the Red Bulls, a 30-year-old team whose home field is in Harrison, New Jersey, while also retiring from playing soccer.
But the team with which Henry is perhaps most associated is London’s Arsenal, for which he played between 1999 and 2007, a span that saw him scoring 174 goals across 254 games. Henry has also played professionally in Spain, Monaco and Italy.
Shannon Eidman, the Compass agent representing the apartment, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The story has been updated to reflect that Henry paid $15 million for the triplex, not $9 million, which was the price for only a portion of the combined unit. Also the most recent apartment to sell in the condo in 2020 went for $1.9 million, not $805,000. (A similar unit on the same floor went for $805,000 a decade earlier.) And despite having two kinds of facades, the condo is a single building.
One of professional soccer’s most celebrated strikers is hoping to score big with his SoHo spread.
Thierry Henry, a World Cup winner, commentator and manager who played with the New York Red Bulls for four years, has listed his 6,100-square-foot triplex penthouse at 39 Crosby St. for $27.3 million, according to a listing that appeared Wednesday.
France-born Henry, who now appears to be living back in his home country and preparing for a coaching role in this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, bought the Manhattan apartment in 2010 for $9 million, public records show, so he could potentially triple his money on his real estate investment.
The original deal included a deeded parking space, according to the city register; Henry tacked on a second parking spot a year later for $325,000.
Spanning the top three floors of a prewar condo that also goes by the address 425 Broome St., Henry’s aerie features five bedrooms, five full and two half-baths, and an open floor plan that gives an all-in-one loft vibe to its living room, dining room and kitchen.
The primary suite, on a different floor, opens to a terrace, part of 3,400 square feet of outdoor space that also includes a private roof deck with an outdoor kitchen and a bamboo garden.
Developed in the mid-2000s in a pair of 5-story, landmarked, 19th-century buildings, 39 Crosby has a total of 11 apartments, according to its original offering plan. As part of the plan, the developers, members of the Malloy and DeMarinis families, layered glass-walled stories atop the existing cast-iron and brick edifices. Henry’s penthouse is tucked into that contemporary addition.
Turnover at the condo appears rare, with the last unit to trade, a one-bedroom, changing hands in an off-market transaction for $805,000 in 2020.
When Henry bought the apartment—the same year he came to the U.S. to lend his skills as a striker to the Red Bulls—he was among the highest-played soccer players in the world. Numerous sponsorships with A-list brands, which throughout Henry’s career have included Nike, Gillette and Renault, significantly padded his base salary of around $5 million. His actual income was reportedly closer to $20 million in those years.
In 2014 Henry left the Red Bulls, a 30-year-old team whose home field is in Harrison, New Jersey, while also retiring from playing soccer.
But the team with which Henry is perhaps most associated is London’s Arsenal, for which he played between 1999 and 2007, a span that saw him scoring 174 goals across 254 games. Henry has also played professionally in Spain, Monaco and Italy.
Shannon Eidman, the Compass agent representing the apartment, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Catch free film screenings at four of Brooklyn’s most popular outdoor spaces this summer. In partnership with Paramount+ and BSE Global, Brooklyn Magazine on Tuesday announced the return of “Paramount+ Movie Nights in Brooklyn,” a free film screening series hosted in Prospect Park, McCarren Park, Fort Greene Park, and for the first time, Coney Island. [...]
The post Enjoy free weekly movies at four outdoor spots in Brooklyn this summer first appeared on 6sqft.
After being closed for nearly eight months due to flood damage, the Prospect Park Zoo will reopen this month. The Wildlife Conservation Society on Tuesday announced the Brooklyn zoo will open on Saturday, May 25 following $6.5 million in repairs needed after Tropical Storm Ophelia in September 2023. The storm dumped over 7 inches of [...]
The post Prospect Park Zoo to reopen Memorial Day weekend after 8-month closure first appeared on 6sqft.