Climate CEOs (formerly Entrepreneurs for Impact): Scaling Climate Tech Startups

Sustainable Mobility: $60M from Sequoia. 80,000 E-bikes Sold. 40% discounts. 100+ Manufacturers.

Oct 6, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Toussaint Hueting, Co-founder and CEO of Upway—a marketplace for refurbished e-bikes—shares his journey from Uber to climate tech. He highlights the potential of e-bikes to replace short car trips, addressing misconceptions about weather's impact on adoption. With over 80,000 bikes sold and $60M raised from Sequoia, Toussaint explains Upway's unique approach of combining e-bike resale with vertical integration for quality assurance. He also offers career advice on team selection and maintaining focus through healthy habits.
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INSIGHT

Short Car Trips Are E-Bike Gold

  • 50% of car trips are under five miles and are ideal candidates for e-bike substitution.
  • This reveals a massive modal-shift opportunity to replace short car trips with e-bikes.
INSIGHT

E‑Bikes Are Already Mainstream

  • There are already over 40 million e-bikes in circulation across Europe and the U.S.
  • That existing installed base makes a large secondhand market and immediate climate impact potential.
INSIGHT

Infrastructure Trumps Weather

  • Weather matters less than safe infrastructure and equipment for bike adoption.
  • Countries with harsh climates but good infrastructure still see high bike mode share.
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