Why an e-bike company is suddenly betting on Detroit.
A couple of years ago, Justin Kosmides was working in investment banking and (in his words) hating life. The one bright spot was his daily commute: an e-bike ride from Brooklyn to midtown that evolved into a coffee-hunting expedition. “I wanted to be cool and European and stop at different espresso shops,” he says with a laugh. But a chance meeting with an e-bike entrepreneur from Brazil turned Kosmides’s hobby into a side hustle and then something more: a leap of faith. In late 2021, Kosmides quit his cushy banking job to become co-founder and CEO of Vela, which