Birmingham-based smart-EV and energy storage startup WAU (We Are Universal) has raised £650,000 in a pre-seed funding round with Angel Investment Network, the world’s largest online angel investment platform.
WAU, launched in 2018, is a fast-growing smart-EV vehicle platform transforming urban mobility. The product offering includes: WAU Bikes, a smart, long range electric bike with a powerful onboard computer, the two-wheel version of the smart electric car; and soon unveiling the WAU Powerwall, enabling the bike’s power cells to be linked together to serve as power storage for solar homes and power plants among other uses. Finally WAU vision, its data gathering capability for an autonomous EV future, rolling out to all current and future riders of WAU across the world.
The investment will enable the business to advance its nearvision mapping. WAU is the only two-wheel EV platform that has enough physical space and energy onboard to compute, process and send the road data required to help all EVs reach level 5 Auto-Pilot. It has been rated as one of the top e-Bike brands in the world by the Financial Times and The Week.
The funds raised will also mean the business can double the production volume at its Essex plant to keep up with growing customer demand. Finally the business is relocating the central HQ from Nottingham to Birmingham to focus on successfully hiring senior talent to quickly expedite front-end growth of WAU as a quickly expanding DTC brand.
