The young French shoot of electric bikes Angell goes “Declare his state of cessation of payments soon” et “Solicit the opening of a judicial liquidation procedure”, said the company this Friday, January 24, confirming information from Figaro. Since its launch in 2019 by the entrepreneur Marc Simoncini, founder among others of the Meetic dating site, the Angell company has not come to seduce with its bikes with sporting design, assembled in France by Seb, and “Connected” to the cyclist via his phone.
Bpifrance and the CMA-CGM logistics giant entered 2023 to the capital of the company, which has 25 employees. The MINI automotive brand also ordered bike series.
But Angell especially broke his wings in November 2024 “After having identified isolated cases of scrap of the frame” First generation bikes, said the brand. Faced with the risk of injuries related to this breakage, she had to recall 5,000 bikes, without being able to find a solution to repair them from her technical partners, in particular Seb and the Kickmaker design office.
“Several concrete proposals have been submitted by Angell, aimed at ensuring the continuity of the activity and implementing an exchange or reimbursement of the bikes concerned. Unfortunately, none of these initiatives led to an agreement ”underlines the company. “This problem whose cost of resolution largely exceeds the capacities of society”, was “combined with significant financial weakening ”, Angelll says.
“Very difficult to fight against Asian countries”
His boss, Marc Simoncini, also advanced another explanation in Le Figaro. “It is a pride sin to have made our bikes made in France. Our products were too expensive and sold badly. It is very difficult to fight against Asian countries in this niche. ”
-Angell customers, them, “Have only their eyes to cry”underlines the newspaper. Those who had bought the first bikes of the brand “have very little chance of being reimbursed their now unusable product. ” To the next, they “Can no longer very quickly use the connected part of their bicycle, provided so far by the brand that will disappear.
The Dutch brand Vanmoof, another pioneer of connected bikes, had experienced exponential growth before going bankrupt in 2023. It has since been taken up by the English group McLaren Applied (ex-Formula 1 stable), which Relaunched the brand by facilitating in particular the maintenance of its bikes.
In a cycle market generally slowed down in 2024, their Belgian competitor Cowboy said in late December, having managed its production “With care”and aims to become profitable in 2025.
