Boston startup Fortified Bicycle just nabbed a $150,000 grant through the Mission Main Street Grants program run by JP Morgan Chase & Co., and it plans to use the money to build out a new office on the edge of Chinatown that it hopes will become a gathering place for Boston’s bike community.
Fortified Bicycle, previously known as Gotham Bicycle Defense Industries, has launched several theft-resistant bike lights, and is now designing a complete bicycle for urban cyclists, along with other accessories like cargo racks. The company raised $800,000 from investors last year after running several successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns, and it also participated in the 2014 Techstars Boston accelerator program. (I covered the company last November in a Globe column that focused mainly on startups working on electric bikes.)