Techvibes | Brenda Bouw | Oct 18, 2016

The Vanhawks Valour campaign raised just over $820,000 on Kickstarter.

Vanhawks, maker of Valour, the world's first smart carbon fiber bicycle, has resurrected itself with a new marketing plan after coming close to shuttering earlier this year.

The Montreal-born company, which was a sensation on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in 2014 before falling into financial difficulties, says its plan includes a hybrid sales model with both online and in-store sales.  It's a chance in direction from its online-only sales model that promised to disrupt the bike industry.  The now Toronto-based Vanhawks also says it has lined up promising partnerships in the bike industry to help influence sales of its product, which is a $1500 USD bike that can be connected to smartphones via bluetooth and track rider statistics, such as route and speed, in real-time.

"My whole effort for the last few months has been around partnerships, as opposed to throwing money at solving problems," Sohaib Zahid, a cofounder and CEO of Vanhawks, said in an interview on Tuesday.  "I have solved it by forming partnerships with people I think will help and believe will put us back on track."

He won't yet name the partners, or the dealers readying to sell the bikes in the U.S. and Canada, but said Vanhawks is 'gearing up for 2017'.

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The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada non-profit actively engaged with both social and investment crowdfunding stakeholders across the country. NCFA Canada provides education, research, leadership, support and networking opportunities to over 1300+ members and works closely with industry, government, academia, community and eco-system partners and affiliates to create a strong and vibrant crowdfunding industry in Canada. Learn more at ncfacanada.org.