The continuation after advertising
Marc Simoncini is certainly part of the French Tech pioneers. Founder of one of the first French -speaking internet accommodation sites in 1996, Ifrance, it was in 2001 that this native of Marseille exploded with the Meetic dating site. This man, whose fortune in 2023 was estimated at 500 million euros (264th French fortune), you also know him as a member of the jury of Who wants to become my partner ?, Program that returns on February 5 to M6 for a 5th season.
A program which has just been cited in a sordid case, which more precisely concerns Eric Larcheveque, co -founder of Ledge. But to return to Marc Simoncini, he has just announced sad news to his subscribers this Friday, January 24, 2025, via an Instagram story.
“Angell is over. A hardware problem will have ended the adventure, despite all our efforts and the incredible work of all employees, which I think this evening. We have just communicated to our customers (I cannot say more at this stage due to procedures in progress) but I will do my maximum, until the end, to benefit from the best possible solution. “, He wrote.
Indeed, “the young French push of electric bikes Angel will request its liquidationa few months after the bankruptcy of its competitor Vanmoof, “said AFP, adding that the brand” will soon declare its state of cessation of payments “.
Angell's closure, what happened?
This company, Marc Simoncini founded it in 2019. He unfortunately could not seduce with his bikes with sporting design, assembled in France by Seb, and “connected” to the cyclist via his phone. Bpifrance, Seb 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 identifying isolated cases of the framework of the framework“First generation bikes, said the brand. Faced with the risk of injury related to this breakage, it had to recall 5,000 bikes, without being able to find a solution to repair them with its technical partners, in particular SEB and the office D 'Kickmaker studies.
“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“, a souligné Angell.
The SEB group deplored these words on Friday. The group indicates having “fully complied with its assembly obligations in accordance with the contract and the instructions communicated by Zébra“, Angell's parent company.”In addition, the SEB group has already provided significant support to Zébra in the past five years, in particular by entering its capital and funding its stocks“said the company at AFP.
“It is a pride sin to have made our bikes made in France manufactured“, has Marc Simoncini in Le Figaro, on his side.”Our products were too expensive and sold badly. It is very difficult to fight against Asian countries in this niche.“
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 highly slowed cycle market in 2024, their Belgian competitor Cowboy said in late December, having managed its production “carefully”, and aims to become profitable in 2025.
