Bicycle maker VanMoof declared bankrupt | Economy

The administrators previously appointed by the court will now investigate the possibilities of a restart as trustees. They hope to find another party willing to continue VanMoof’s business, the company said in a statement.

In 2021, VanMoof will have a loss of 77.8 million euros, according to the latest annual report. The brand has its own stores in twenty cities worldwide. Some of those closed shops still have customers’ bicycles. In addition, the specific parts for VanMoof bicycles. Pieter Bikker, director of E-mobility at KwikFit, told BNR on Monday. For several weeks now, the bicycle manufacturer has had a cooperation agreement with KwikFit, which carries out the repairs of VanMoof bicycles.

VanMoof owners can go to three KwikFit locations in Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague. But very specific parts for the bicycles are now on it, says Bikker. Replacing brakes or tires is still possible, but VanMoof batteries, for example, are not. “We are in talks with VanMoof to see if we can somehow get something going there. That also seems to me to be in the interest of VanMoof, whatever happens,” says Bikker. “But I have no idea whether that will happen at all, and if so, when.”

VanMoof was founded in 2009. The brothers Taco and Ties Carlier founded the company to make ‘the perfect city bike’, which stands out for its minimalist design. A few years later they switched completely to electric bicycles. In addition, the Amsterdam brand profiled itself as a bicycle maker that rebuilt the entire design and production process from the ground up.

The e-bikes are full of parts specially developed for VanMoof, which is also a financial Achilles heel pale. Huge investments are required. In its 2021 annual report, VanMoof also mentioned higher-than-expected costs for under-warranty repairs. There were also many complaints on social media about long waiting times for repairs of malfunctioning bicycles.

Due to the substantial expenditures, VanMoof continued to incur losses of tens of millions of euros and shareholders’ equity was negative. New cash injections from investors and suppliers filled those gaps. At the beginning of this year, when the preliminary annual report for 2021 was published, the board warned that it was by no means certain that there would be enough new capital injections to keep the company afloat.