E-Bike Franchise

The ask

Build and sell a franchise package — e-bike fleet, booking software, charging station, and ops playbook — that lets a single entrepreneur launch a 20–50 bike rental or last-mile delivery micro-business in any Bangladeshi city within 30 days.

Why now

Chinese e-bikes land in Bangladesh for USD 250–350 (36V 10Ah, 25 km/h) with BRTA type-approval increasingly accessible; the total franchise kit can be assembled under ৳15 lakh for a 20-bike operation. Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, and Khulna all have university campuses, tech parks, and mixed-use corridors where short-distance e-bike hire competes directly with CNG and ride-hailing. Ride-hailing gross margins are eroding; a bike-franchise model with a known playbook and central tech support has a structural cost advantage.

Why Bangladesh

Bangladesh's urban population is growing 3.5 % per year; road congestion in Dhaka is among the worst globally (average speed 7 km/h). E-bikes cut through traffic and park anywhere — the utility proposition is obvious. The rickshaw-puller and CNG-driver workforce (2–3 million people) already understands the gig-mobility business model; an e-bike franchise offering higher daily earnings with lower fatigue is a simple pitch. Existing motorcycle-repair shops can service e-bikes with minimal retraining.

As a business

Revenue from franchise fees (৳1–3 lakh one-time), bike supply margins (20–30 % above landed cost), software subscription (৳5 000–12 000/month), and a royalty on GMV (3–5 %). The franchisee earns from daily rentals (৳80–200/trip) or delivery fees; the franchisor earns the above four streams across the network. At 200 franchise locations the software and royalty stack alone produces a ৳2–5 crore/month recurring business.

Economics

Move the sliders to model your own e-bike franchise network. Defaults are order-of-magnitude estimates — pressure-testing them is part of what a founder pitches us.

What ZEPH would back

A founder who has operated a 20–50 bike location profitably for 6 months and documented the unit economics in enough detail to write the franchise manual. The product being sold to franchisees must have been pressure-tested by the founder's own operation first. Seed funding to build the software platform and launch the first 10 franchise sales.

Impact

A 200-location franchise network operating 5,000 e-bikes displaces roughly 1,500–2,500 CNG or fuel-motorcycle trips per day, avoiding an estimated 2,000–3,500 tCO₂e per year at Bangladesh's grid emission factor. Each franchise location supports 2–5 direct jobs (operators, chargers, mechanics) and 20–50 rider livelihoods — a highly distributed employment multiplier. Unlike centralised EV schemes, the franchise model seeds repair and charging competence across secondary cities, building climate infrastructure that outlasts any single operator. Fuel savings for riders (₳80–200/day avoided fuel cost) recirculate into local consumption rather than imported LNG.