Our Story
Built, not Branded

Founded in 2019, Blacksheep Vietnam operates as a full-stack engineering and product realisation team, developing and manufacturing advanced products across electric vehicles, and scientific products. But the story begins much earlier.
The philosophy behind our name
The name "Blacksheep" is deliberate.
Most progress does not come from following established rules. It comes from people willing to question them, and commit to a different way of doing things. That mindset is where Blacksheep began. But independence alone is not enough. Without structure, it turns into noise.
At Blacksheep Vietnam, every project is defined clearly: what is being built, by when, and to what standard. Inside that boundary, the team is free to think, design, and solve.
Our foundation
Twenty years of building
the hardest kind of things
Blacksheep Vietnam did not begin as a startup or a manufacturing experiment. It began with more than two decades of advanced science and engineering experience built by founder Mark Gilligan and an understanding of what it truly takes to bring a complex product from idea to the hands of a customer.

In 2001, Mark founded Syrris Ltd in the UK, developing cutting-edge technologies for research and development chemistry. Over the following two decades, that grew into Dolomite Microfluidics, Particle Works, and a group of advanced science businesses, eventually forming Blacktrace Holdings, one of the UK's most respected advanced engineering and science companies. Blacktrace designed and manufactured precision scientific instruments across microfluidics, chemistry, biology, nanomaterials, and precision instrumentation. With offices and distribution in the United States, Japan, India, Brazil, and Europe, these were not consumer products. They were engineered systems requiring precision mechanical design, electronics and firmware integration, complex system engineering, and small-volume advanced manufacturing, built over long development cycles, with no room for error.

Over more than 20 years, Mark and his teams built expertise across the full arc of product creation: concept, engineering design, prototyping, manufacturing, supply chain, and global delivery. That body of knowledge is the foundation on which Blacksheep Vietnam was built.
The decision
Seeing Vietnam differently
Around fifteen years ago, Mark first visited Vietnam. At that time, the country was not widely recognised as a destination for advanced engineering or complex product development. But what Mark observed was a manufacturing landscape in the middle of a transformation that most of the world had not yet noticed. Strong engineering talent. A rapidly growing industrial base. A workforce with unusual adaptability and technical ambition. And a supply chain that was becoming increasingly powerful but remained almost entirely inaccessible to the outside world. That distinction between outsourcing and building shaped everything that followed.
Our milestones
How Blacksheep Vietnam was built in a glimpse.
~2010
Mark visits Vietnam for the first time, not for business. He sees a manufacturing ecosystem in rapid transformation, and engineering talent largely invisible to the international market.
2018 - 2019
Blacktrace evaluates potential locations for an Asian office. After rigorous analysis of cost, talent, supply chain capability, and long-term potential, Hanoi comes out ahead. The decision is made to build an engineering and science team here.
2019
Blacksheep Vietnam is founded. Two teams from the start: engineering - product development, and science support across Asia. Within the first year, a working electric motorbike is demonstrated publicly at the Ha Long Bay Tech festival.
2020 - 2023
Blacksheep Vietnam grows to over 20 engineers. Capabilities expand across precision manufacturing, complex product assembly, supply chain management, electronics, firmware, software, and testing. A track record is built across two demanding systems: scientific instruments and electric vehicle development.
2023
Blacktrace is acquired by a US company. Blacksheep Vietnam moves independently. Focus fully to one goal: building a complete electric motorbike from scratch.
2023 - Today
Blacksheep Vietnam operates as an adaptable, full-stack engineering team. Designing, building, and manufacturing complex, high-precision productsin small volumes, for clients globally.