How Cleveland’s LAND Energy is using electric motorcycles as the future of energy
Creating an electric motorcycle company is a big undertaking in and of itself, but LAND Energy has bigger aspirations.
The Cleveland company sees its swappable smart batteries as the broader innovation guiding the trajectory of the business.
“There are two different paths that we're taking: There's the consumer journey and then there's the larger journey that we're taking as a company,” says LAND Founder and CEO Scott Colosimo. “Energy is really our focus. How we're articulating that right now is through world-class electric motorcycles.”
In 2020, LAND debuted its flagship two-wheel vehicle, The District, which is powered by a swappable electric battery pack (CORE) with a range of 120 miles per battery. The e-Moto features four speed settings—e-Bike (up to 27 mph), e-Moped (up to 40 mph) and e-Motorcycle (70+ mph)—to meet the needs of a range of riders, from beginners to off-road enthusiasts and experienced motorcyclists.
As to the future, LAND devices may be used for everything from bicycles and four wheelers to things unrelated to mobility.
Raising Money
LAND, named as a nod to Cleveland, closed a $7 million Series A round last September. The company is navigating a $15 million bridge round and setting the stage for a $50 million Series B round.
The A round helped bring on new employees, equipment, and enough capital to produce 30 units a month. LAND now is moving from an R&D or “science project” phase into scaled production.
“If we took your traditional venture funded startup approach—which is to raise a hundred million, burn through that cash, and raise another hundred million—we'd be out of business,” Colosimo says. “The boom-bust cycle is not us. So we saw us setting realistic KPIs, realistic sales numbers, and realistic goals as a path to success where the whole industry was setting unrealistic targets.”
Home in Ohio
LAND has about 25 employees and occupies a 65,000-square-foot building in the Gordon Square neighborhood. The company is looking for an additional 200,000 square feet to expand its battery packing capabilities.
Colosimo says Ohio’s rich history of automotive manufacturing makes it a great place to call home.
“We've got an incredible amount of knowledge on the hardware side, which is huge,” he says. “Everything from making forged to cast to complex assemblies, it all exists.”
And Ohio’s strength in health technology is an unexpected benefit amid competition for talent.
“You might say, well, how does health tech relate to energy?”, he says. “Well, health tech is increasingly becoming telehealth and remote health, and devices. So trying to find IoT talent, front end developers, full stack developers, everything that you need to make connected devices or IoT devices. We've got supply chain, we've got pick and place. We've got talent all across Ohio.”
But, he says, for all its strengths, the local entrepreneurial ecosystem still has room for improvement.
“The biggest con right now is that we are in a venture capital desert up here in Cleveland; if you only smile and say everything's great, then things don't get better,” Colosimo says. “Since we don't have a robust ecosystem here, the Cleveland business community has really stepped up. We've had a lot of great support from local business owners that have found success here. That's been huge.”
Visit landmoto.io to learn more about the company’s e-motos and its easily upgradeable battery and computer systems. You can read about how The District was recently named best e-bike at CES 2024.
