SqueezeA French smart electric bicycle start, announced in an email to customers that the company declares insolvency and is approaching a court to seek judicial clearance.
“It’s over for Angell,” the company’s co -founder said and Managing Director Marc Simoncini on Instagram. (It also happens to be a judge in the French version of “Tank Shark.”) “A material problem has ended the adventure, despite all our efforts and the incredible work of all our employees.”
Originally founded in 2019, Angell started creating an electric bike with many smart and connected features. Its original bike was packaged on a small color touch screen in the middle of the steering wheel to display relevant information and give turn-by-turn directions. It could also connect to your phone using Bluetooth.
With the built -in lock and alarm system and the built -in GPS chips and cell modem, Angell bike competed with other European smart bike manufacturers, such as Cowboy and Vanmoof. It is also worth noting that Vanmoof itself had to go bankrupt in the Netherlands in 2023. A new owner is now trying to resume the trademark.
With the all-in-one package, Angell suffered from credibility issues. In an email to customers, the company explained that its latest issue with its first generation bike was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“The fragility of the bicycle framework represents the risk of breaking,” the company wrote. “We understand that it is a defect associated with the process of construction of the frames and more specifically to welding the pipes together.”
Angell does not build its own bikes. Instead, he has worked with Seb, the French industrial company behind All-Clad, Krups, Moulinex, Rowenta and Tefal, to assign the production process to third parties. Similarly, he has worked with a third -party design company, Kickmaker.
In the balance of the email, Angell is trying to shift responsibility to these two partners for these serious design defects. However, Angell is financially responsible for these defective bicycles, as it is the company that sold these bikes. It could either recall up to 7,000 bicycles or return its customers.
But these two options seem very expensive to start, as the company has chosen an insolvency process. There will probably be other cases to determine who is responsible for construction between Angell, Seb and Kickmaker.
As for Angell Bike Owners, people who hold first generation bikes now have a motorcycle that is not safe to drive. Clients with recent Angell bikes will also be affected as the company says it can turn off its servers at some point. Hopefully it is not going to affect electrical assistance and smart lock.
