Local Electric Bike Company Anticipates Year of Growth with New Partnership

BY C. JAYDEN SMITH

Coming off what it says was its best year yet, the San Clemente-based MURF Electric Bikes announced last week that it has partnered with an investment firm as the local company looks to grow significantly in 2023. Its collaboration with GEF Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on climate change and sustainability efforts, will allow the company to work toward opening a new retail storefront, releasing two new models of bikes and finding more dealers to sell its bikes this year, according to MURF’s Jan. 25 announcement.

Co-founder and CEO Josh Jones told San Clemente Times that the process to identify a partner was over a year in the making, as the company wanted someone to help take MURF to the “next level.”

“The next level would be selling more bikes, bringing on more staff, and making our product even better,” said Jones.

He added that working with professionals to better design bikes fit within the company’s definition of involving more staff, in addition to hiring sales representatives.

Kiara Jones, the other co-founder, chief operating officer, and Josh’s wife, said the pair realized how much farther MURF had grown past their initial expectations. They didn’t want to stunt the company’s growth, so they started the search for a financial partner.

Throughout that process, according to Kiara, MURF keyed in on finding a firm that expressed a belief in its brand, especially as private equity firms carried a generally negative reputation.

“During the process, (they) flew out and met us in person,” she said. “We had lots of conversations outside of just the nitty-gritty research and numbers.”

In the announcement, Josh further explained the reason for partnering with GEF Capital.

“As a family-founded company, we were immediately drawn to GEF Capital’s unique approach towards investing, which centers supporting management teams and aligning values,” he said.

“We’re thrilled to have found a partner that will support our close-knit team and continued growth.”

The announcement added that GEF Capital’s “true partnership philosophy” in backing the pre-existing staff at MURF was another factor.

Josh said he also felt the firm’s managing partner, Stuart Barkoff, could relate to MURF, in that both businesses have been trying to grow in recent years, he told SC Times

Kiara said the move was important in terms of honoring the staff who have been at the company by providing them with more resources to succeed.

The biking company’s goal in releasing its newest update to customers and others who come across the information was to let people know that its team, full of San Clementeans, as Kiara noted, is striving to do better than before.

“Our goal is to really improve the lives of the community through our products,” Kiara said. “So, we want to make great-performing products and continue to elevate them, but we also want to impact people’s lives.”

MURF’s partnership with GEF Capital will help the company expand that desire, she said, and Josh echoed her sentiments.

“When (people) get on a MURF (bike), there’s just a feeling of love when you ride it,” Josh said. “You love doing it, and it makes whatever you’re doing more enjoyable. We just want to spread that feeling.”

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The main obstacle that Petrossi’s team is concerned with is seeking approval from the California Coastal Commission.

“Other than that, the final design is really a combination of all the comments and the recommendations from staff,” he said. “We’re thankful for that.”

Former Mayor Tim Brown, assisting Petrossi on the project, told the commission that the team was not married to the “Moana Landing” name, and they were open to various possibilities.

“The relationship (between staff and the applicant) has been very collaborative to date, and, candidly, there’s been a lot of really great outcomes just (from) conversations, even here tonight,” Brown said. “So, I think we can continue that same repartee going forward.”

Commissioner Gary McCaughan later opined that he was fine with letting the applicant choose the development name.

Chair Pro Tem Steven Camp, who sits on the Design Review Subcommittee, commended Petrossi’s team, as they’d met numerous times in the months leading up to the Jan. 18 meeting for their continuous effort in improving the design.

He did, however, say that cursive typeface displaying the development’s name on the front of the building’s northern and southern ends was “not appropriate” and needed to be improved. Commissioner Cameron Cosgrove pointed out that he remembered suggesting the design team place the letters on the south side in an arch to outline a fountain included there.

Amid debate over numerous signs on the building, McKhann asked staff whether the discretionary sign program needed to be approved at the same time as the other permits.

Deputy Community Development Department Director Adam Atamian said staff prefers to have things approved all at once to speed up the process for applicants, but that isn’t required.

“It could be continued to a date certain,” Atamian said. “If the Planning Commission would like it to go back to the DRSC or some other action and come back to the Planning Commission for a subsequent approval, that would be fine.”

He added that Petrossi could seek a Coastal Development Permit from the Coastal Commission for just the building alone and then obtain a smaller approval for the signs.

The commission went on to approve a

Discretionary Sign Permit for the project after giving Petrossi guidance on changes it would prefer to see.

McCaughan mentioned that it would be difficult for people driving south on El Camino Real to see the building number because it was tucked away on the southern end. To that point, Camp added that the Orange County Fire Authority would likely have more input on the number’s visibility than the commission.

Commissioner Karen Prescott-Loeffler said that apart from not being in love with the dome feature and wanting to see more creative tile elements, she was OK with the project.

Before the commission gave its approval, Commissioner Barton Crandell also praised Petrossi and his team for their work on the project.