Irish electric bike company Moby has raised almost €800,000 from the Irish public in just 30 days through crowdfunding.

Dublin-based Moby said it raised more than double its initial target through 278 investors on Spark Crowdfunding. 

Having already secured €200,000 from professional Irish investors, the company decided to open its funding round to customers and the general public. 

Moby secured a licence from Dublin City Council last year to operate dockless bike sharing in the city and plans to launch up to 1,000 electric bikes in the city. The bikes have a battery range of over 100km. 

It said that after reaching 4,000 registered users who have cycled more than 100,000km in its pilot phase, revenue is trending at €7- €10 per day per bike. 

Moby estimates that this will grow from two to six journeys per bike per day over three years.

It also predicts that a station-less electric bike sharing scheme with a fleet of 1,000 electric bikes can replace 10,000 car trips a day or 3.6 million car journeys a year.

Tech entrepreneur and Draper Esprit venture partner Brian Caulfield, Movidius co-founder Sean Mitchell, and the Halo Business Angel Network (Hban) were among the professional investors backing the company. 

The company had an original target of raising €300,000 through crowdfunding, to fund its fleet expansion grow operations, and advance the company toward more cities.

But it managed to secure a total of €795,091 - beating its estimates.

"We always felt that this platform (Spark Crowdfunding) was the right way to go for our fundraising strategy, and also our overall business strategy of having lots of people who live in Ireland invest in their own bike share scheme," Moby founder and CEO Thomas O'Connell said. 

Chris Burge, CEO of Spark Crowdfunding, said it was great to see a business exceed its crowdfunding target in such a short time.

He said it also highlights how determined Irish people are to help local businesses thrive, even in the middle of a global pandemic.

Spark Crowdfunding is the country's first equity crowdfunding company and was founded by Chris Burge in Dublin in June 2018. 

The company connects start-ups looking to raise funds with investors interested in buying shares in private Irish companies and investors can invest anything from €100 upwards. 

The platform has raised more than €3m for over 15 Irish start-ups including Frequency, Horsepay, Fleet, Digitally, and Campsited.