Seattle startup raises $1.25M for electric bike used on golf courses – GeekWire

Seattle-area startup Fairway Bikes raised a $1.25 million seed round to fuel development of its unique electric bike built for golfers.

The company last year began rolling out its 3-wheeled golf e-bike that’s aimed at helping speed up the pace of play while giving golfers a way to get some exercise on the course.

The bike aims to fill a gap between the traditional motorized golf cart and a manual pull cart. GeekWire tested the bike earlier this year.

Fairway Bikes has partnerships with three courses around Washington state that offer the bikes to golfers: Suncadia Resort, Bear Creek Country Club, and Twin Lakes Golf & Country Club.

The company has interest from more than 50 golf courses and the new funding will help fuel production, said CEO Alex Wunderlich.

Fairway Bikes began development in 2021, under the leadership of founder Jim Billmaier, a tech industry veteran and longtime entrepreneur who previously worked with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on two different companies.

Fairway Bikes also announced that it added Rad Power Bikes co-founder Ty Collins as an advisor. Collins helped launch Seattle-based e-bike maker Rad Power Bikes in 2015 and stepped down in 2021.

“Unlike other golf-focussed EV options, this isn’t just an e-bike with a rack for your bag slapped on,” Collins said in a statement. “It’s a purpose-built product and that shows while riding it.”

Other innovative transportation devices for golfers include the GolfBoard, a skateboard-like electric four-wheeler built by a company in Bend, Ore., as well as an electric motorcycle called Finn Cycle from Missoula, Mont.-based Finn Scooters.

Wunderlich, a former investment analyst and product leader, previously told GeekWire that Fairway Bikes sees trends including a growing number of golfers and the continued push to improve the pace of play as tailwinds for its business.

Fairway Bikes’ investors include Andrew Weber, CEO of water filtration company Grayl, and Brad Griffith, founder of ticketing startup GameTime. Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems (Billmaier worked at Sun for four years), is an advisor.

Wunderlich is the company’s only full-time employee. Other team members include COO Frank Paganelli, the former COO at produce delivery service Full Circle and CEO of biotech firm Salish Bioscience, and CTO Alex Millie, a longtime product engineering leader.

Previously: Riding bikes and making birdies: We played golf with an electric 3-wheeler built by a Seattle startup