Swytch Bike Electric Bike Conversion Kit

Key numbers

The product

The Swytch Kit replaces a bike's front wheel with a motorised wheel and adds a pocket-sized battery pack that clips onto the handlebars. It converts almost any conventional bicycle into an electric one in minutes, without needing a new e-bike or a workshop. The lithium power pack detaches and can be carried indoors, making the bike lighter and harder to steal. It is aimed at commuters and casual riders who already own a bike they love but want help on hills and long trips. Compared with buying a full e-bike, Swytch is cheaper, lighter and keeps the owner's original frame.

How they did it

Swytch was founded in London in late 2017 by Oliver Montague, an engineer who had run a small eBay e-bike shop, and Dmitro Khroma, a former colleague from Cambridge Consultants. Montague patented a design that put the battery and controller inside a removable handlebar bag so it would fit any bike. The pair launched on Indiegogo in November 2017, beat their $50,000 goal within 24 hours and raised over $500,000. A second-generation kit raised more than $1 million on Indiegogo in 2019, and the company shipped 35,000 kits over the next two years. By 2020, one in twenty e-bikes sold in the UK used a Swytch kit. The company grew from under 10 to roughly 30 employees and, by 2024, counted more than 100,000 riders across 100+ countries. After pandemic-era supply delays and customer complaints, it raised new funding and began shifting from pre-orders to an in-stock model in 2026.

Why it worked

• Removable handlebar battery made the kit theft-resistant and genuinely portable
• Fitted almost any existing bike, avoiding the cost of a whole new e-bike
• Repeated Indiegogo launches funded growth with pre-orders instead of venture capital
• Earned mainstream press from The Guardian, BBC and Washington Post for affordability