Nuremberg and Geneva changed everything.
After filling headlines with Grunner, we got a message that would shape our next chapter - a sales representative from Dubai, UAE, reaching out with a local partner. There was a real opportunity to open the UAE market and to step into the Middle East for the first time.
We had the product. We had momentum. And this time, we finally had the money to travel. So it was a no-brainer.
The plan was to showcase our newly upgraded Grunner at the Gartner tech summit in Dubai that same year. Felix Baumgartner, the man who jumped from the edge of space, would give the keynote address. And here we were, defining the edge of urban mobility.
Our end client? Dubai Police. I called my colleague: “We’re going to Dubai.”
It was my first flight outside of Europe, and of course, it couldn’t be simple. Boeing MAX 8s were grounded, so we flew out on a 777. Meanwhile, our bike was being tested… in snow. And about to be shipped to a country sitting at +30°C. We had last-minute tweaks. Last-minute calls with DHL. Packing a fully connected electric bike to fly cargo internationally, in perfect condition, isn’t exactly plug-and-play. We had to become logistics experts overnight.
And when we finally landed, import issues hit us right at the airport. It was tense. But it all worked out. The bike arrived. And not just arrived, it became the main attraction.
The Grunner platform impressed everyone. We had interest from clients across sectors, conversations we never expected, and momentum we could feel.
And then came the final moment - a video of our Grunner bike leading a Dubai Police parade through the streets. Built in Croatia. Now used in the UAE. That moment said everything.
When we came back home, we weren’t just proud, we were connected. We could track live telemetry from the bike, monitor performance, and reconfigure settings, all remotely. This was world-class technology, proven in a global market. And most importantly, it opened doors. Big ones.
