36Kr Exclusive | E-Bike Transmission Supplier Breaks Monopoly of Overseas Giants, Secures New Tens of Millions RMB Financing with Participation from Cathay Capital and Dachen

Author | Zhang Ziyi

Editor | Yuan Silai

Yingke learned that Luofandi Intelligent Technology, a core component supplier for intelligent short - distance travel (hereinafter referred to as "Luofandi"), has completed a new round of Series B+ financing worth tens of millions of yuan. The investors in this round include Guotai Haitong, Fortune Capital, and Guangzhou Huangpu Science and Technology Innovation Mother Fund. The old shareholder, Fortune Capital, continued to increase its investment in this round.

It is reported that the funds from this round of financing will be mainly used for continuous R & D investment, capacity expansion, construction of the global sales network, and working capital for daily operations. Among them, the R & D focus will be on in - depth development of the next - generation intelligent internal transmission.

Since its establishment in 2012, Luofandi has been focusing on the R & D and production of internal transmissions. It is the first company in China and the third in the world to mass - produce intelligent internal transmissions. Currently, the company has developed products such as electronically controlled internal transmissions, motor - integrated transmissions (MEGS), mechanical automatic internal transmissions, and intelligent vehicle locks.

Transmission products are mainly used in travel products. Intelligent electric travel manufacturers are also the main users of Luofandi.

Taking Ebikes as an example, in the past three years, the global Ebike market has been in a long inventory reduction process. According to global market data, the global Ebike market size exceeded $61.89 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $113.64 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.3%.

Yan Pu, CFO of Luofandi, believes that taking the European market as an example, many existing Ebike users in Europe bought their bikes after 2018. Based on the 8 - to 10 - year service life of a bike, it is expected that within the next two to three years, the first wave of replacement demand from existing users will be released intensively, and the global Ebike market is expected to enter the next significant growth period.

The core component market for Ebikes has been monopolized by giants such as Bosch and Shimano in the past, resulting in serious product homogenization of Ebikes. As a result, complete vehicle brand manufacturers have a need to use electronic internal transmissions for differentiated technology. Currently, the penetration rate of internal transmissions in the high - end European Ebike market exceeds 40%, and 70% of the mass - market Ebike segment is completely blank due to the high price of electronic internal transmissions.

In addition, mainstream motor manufacturers such as Bosch, Bafang, and Ananda are all launching motor systems with higher torque, which has accelerated the application of high - power motors in Ebikes. However, traditional transmission systems are facing physical limitations.

Currently, the rated torque of the mainstream internal transmissions of Shimano, a transmission giant, is only 85 Nm. The input torque limit of the enviolo HD, widely used in mid - to high - end models, is only 100 Nm. Under the output of high - power motors, traditional transmissions are overloaded and are prone to damage.

Yingke learned that Luofandi has increased the input torque limit of its intelligent internal transmission to 200 Nm by virtue of its self - developed UHT ultra - high - torque patented technology. Compared with the current situation where 99% of the market still uses manual mechanical transmissions, Luofandi has achieved full - line intelligent electronic automatic shifting. This system can accurately coordinate the ratio of human and electric power output through motors, torque, and speed sensors in combination with AI algorithms, and automatically shift to the most suitable gear for the rider and the terrain within millimeters, realizing automatic down - shifting on uphill slopes and increasing the vehicle's cruising range by 30%.

In terms of market cooperation, Luofandi's technical strength has gradually been verified by mass production from global vehicle manufacturers. Currently, several well - known overseas Ebike brands have started mass - producing Ebike models using Luofandi's internal transmission products.

Interview with the CFO:

Yingke: In the parts industry monopolized by giants such as Shimano and Bosch for decades, and they have also started to enter the electronic internal transmission market. What are Luofandi's advantages in this situation?

Yan Pu: Essentially, this is not a question of whether the technology can be understood, but is determined by the completely different product iteration and business survival philosophies between the East and the West.

Old - established giants from Europe, the United States, and Japan, such as Bosch and Shimano, have an underlying logic of "long - cycle R & D and recovering high profits over a long product life cycle". Many of Shimano's current internal transmissions are still products from 20 years ago without any technological changes. They are used to spending 5 years on product demonstration and R & D. Once a product is launched, they expect to sell it for 10 or 20 years to earn substantial profits. Their cycle of actively replacing molds and high - frequency upgrades is very slow.

However, Chinese companies follow a logic of being major challengers. We care more about quickly occupying the market through technological innovation and do not expect to rely on a single product to make money for a decade or more. Chinese enterprises iterate rapidly on the basis of quality and stability and are brave enough to try and continuously optimize from the very beginning of the design. I believe that as long as our technology is iterating rapidly and there is still room for rapid iteration, overseas companies are not to be feared.

Yingke: The decision - making cycle of vehicle manufacturers usually takes 2 to 3 years. You just mentioned that Luofandi's business is growing rapidly now. Why is it at this time?

Yan Pu: Our transmission business grew five - fold from the year before last to last year, and we expect it to grow another five - fold from last year to this year, and it is estimated to triple next year.

This explosive growth may seem sudden, but it has actually gone through a long user verification cycle. Since the testing process for B - end customers is long, the customers who are now mass - producing our products actually started contacting and testing with us two or three years ago. At that time, we had not produced large - scale products, so although the customers were interested, they were also very cautious and conducted a large number of real - vehicle tests simultaneously.

At the same time, our core competitiveness lies in the combination of three factors: higher cost - effectiveness, stronger anti - torsion performance (200 Nm), and the intelligent riding experience brought by electronically controlled automatic shifting.

On the supply side, intelligent transmissions that meet all three of these criteria are almost non - existent in the market.