The ultimate chapter within the VanMoof monetary saga has been written this morning. The e-bike maker has formally filed for chapter.

The transfer was first reported by Thomas Ricker in The Verge, citing an inside e-mail despatched by VanMoof cofounders and brothers Taco and Ties Carlier informing firm staff of the choice. The total textual content of the e-mail is seen under.

Solely final week, VanMoof had entered right into a court-administered “suspension of cost” that was meant to provide the corporate time to seek out enough funds to keep away from submitting for chapter. The week earlier than it had suspended gross sales, marking the primary main signal {that a} chapter could possibly be imminent.

Now in an obvious indication that it will not be attainable to avoid wasting the corporate throughout the suspension of cost interval, its cofounders have filed for chapter within the Netherlands. Worldwide VanMoof operations should not at the moment in insolvency, and their future stays murky.

It’s nonetheless attainable {that a} purchaser steps ahead to buy VanMoof’s belongings, together with its wealth of mental property. VanMoof’s extremely tech-forward designs helped differentiate the corporate from cookie-cutter electrical bike competitors, but in addition proved to be its Achilles’ heel when these sophisticated programs resulted in pricey servicing in addition to supply-chain/manufacturing complications.

The interior e-mail saying the chapter to staff may be seen under:

Pricey all,

During the last weeks Ties and I’ve tried to discover a future for VanMoof. We’re extraordinarily sorry to need to report that regardless of our greatest efforts we didn’t succeed and we now have needed to file for chapter. The directors, who are actually the trustees, will clarify under what this implies for you, however we need to take a really transient second to thanks all from the underside of our hearts.

We began VanMoof 14 years in the past with a loopy concept to vary the world. The one cause that we had been in a position to make a dent is due to you: the lots of of devoted and constant people who have helped us with our mission to vary cities for the higher. We’re grateful to every considered one of you and we’re sorry that we will be unable to see this mission by way of collectively.

We really feel disappointment, however most of all we really feel an immense sense of delight for what we now have achieved collectively. For us it’s been the honour of a lifetime and although the present iteration of VanMoof ends right this moment and we don’t but know what the long run holds, I’m assured that the VanMoof alumni will proceed to be a pressure for good.

With the kindest of regards,

Taco and Ties Carlier 

The way forward for current VanMoof e-bikes at the moment owned by clients can be in query. These high-tech e-bikes depend on the VanMoof app to be unlocked, although a key code may be generated by the app to unlock the bikes even with out the telephone being current.

Rival e-bike firm Cowboy created a brand new app that may permit VanMoof house owners to regenerate codes for his or her bikes, and different e-bike firms are actually providing trade-ins for VanMoof e-bikes.

Electrek’s Take

It is a unhappy day for the e-bike business. No matter what you considered VanMoof’s bikes themselves, it’s by no means good to see a serious participant fall. Ripples can be felt all through the business.

It could be a wake-up name in regards to the risks of being locked into an excessively technical answer, but it surely doesn’t imply low-tech e-bike firms are secure from the pitfalls of overproduction or poor cash-flow planning both.

Hopefully VanMoof’s chapter can stay an remoted case, however I do fear that a number of different e-bike firms at the moment navigating rocky waters could also be one small storm away from catastrophe.

FTC: We use revenue incomes auto affiliate hyperlinks. Extra.