Harvard Duo Powers Bangladesh’s Rickshaws With Battery Startup

A young company created by chance is trying to transform urban transportation in the world’s most populous region.

Harvard graduate students Nicole Mao, 33, and Yiwei Zhu, 32, have been building one of Bangladesh’s hottest startups for three years after getting stuck in the country during the pandemic. Their battery-swapping network for electric rickshaws is surging in popularity and will reach 1,000 stations next year, mainly servicing the country’s millions of such three-wheeled taxi vehicles.

The female duo’s firm, Tiger New Energy, is making rickshaw drivers’ lives easier by allowing them to swap to fresh batteries on ...