Bankrupt e-bike company VanMoof will be bought by electric scooter maker Lavoie, it has been announced.
VanMoof declared bankruptcy with debts of €143.8 million in a Dutch court in July, calling time on the company burning through €200 million of investment since 2016 and posting losses of almost €80 million in both 2021 and 2022.
Lavoie, a subsidiary of McLaren Applied, which itself is affiliated with the British motorsport company, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire VanMoof and will provide some comfort to the e-bike brand’s nearly 200,000 customers, who own e-bikes made with a host of proprietary components. There were also concerns that VanMoof’s servers could be taken offline, rendering useless the services of the highly connected machines, such as being able to track stolen bikes and opening integrated kick locks.
The sleek designs and highly integrated nature of the VanMoof e-bikes made them a darling of the tech world and a common sight in cities like Amsterdam, but also made the company’s potential collapse an even greater headache for current owners. In many cases, the proprietary nature of the bikes makes them unserviceable by shops.
McLaren Applied has stepped into bikes before, including with high-profile collaborations with Specialized.
“Under the terms of the agreement, the acquisition will see Lavoie and McLaren Applied inject stability into the VanMoof operations,” read a press release. “Then combining and integrating their premium capabilities to create a next-generation e-mobility business and establish a world-leading premium e-mobility offering.”
The terms of the purchase have not been disclosed but “tens of millions” of pounds “in the short term” will be invested to stabilise the company, McLaren Applied Chairman Nick Fry told Reuters.
“This is a huge opportunity for us as this (VanMoof) is a company with a brilliant product,” Fry continued. “But this is not going to be a walk in the park, this also is a company that got itself into a difficult financial situation.”
High maintenance costs have partly been blamed for VanMoof’s bankruptcy, as well as struggles with quality issues, which Fry has explained naturally hurt sales.
Meanwhile, service centres for the bikes remain closed, while customers who prepaid for new models and have already waited for months are still wondering whether their purchases will ever be delivered.
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