CAKE, a younger Swedish firm making high-end electrical bikes, has filed for chapter, in accordance with a number of information stories. The corporate, already struggling financially, confronted a sudden shortfall this yr after some buyers pulled out shortly earlier than a funding spherical. That led CAKE’s house owners to file for chapter on February 1, reported Swedish publications Dagens Industri, Breakit, and Aftonbladet.
“It isn’t one however a number of circumstances which have induced us to finish up on this state of affairs,” CAKE CEO Stefan Ytterborn informed Dagens Industri. “Local weather points are now not in focus; we’re in a recession. It’s about us, however it’s additionally concerning the enterprise capital ecosystem. In the meanwhile it’s utterly useless, there aren’t any takers within the later section CAKE is in.”
With their toy-like look and all-electric motors, CAKE’s bikes generated loads of buzz in only a few quick years. An instance is a advertising and marketing scheme, “Electrical Conquest of Continents,” with skilled riders utilizing CAKE bikes to cross Africa and North America. The corporate additionally labored with GoalZero to develop stealthy “bush bikes” to assist rangers battle the poaching of African wildlife.
CAKE additionally designed motorbikes particularly for supply professionals and even tried to enterprise into the e-scooter market.
In GearJunkie’s assessment of the Kalk OR, bike editor Seiji Ishii took the off-road bike for a check journey, calling it “insanely enjoyable.” However with a price ticket of $13,000, he additionally had problem reconciling the value to conventional fuel grime bikes, which have extra true grime functionality and vary.
“So who’s the Kalk OR for? It’s for me — if I had extra disposable earnings,” Ishii wrote.
Different potential consumers could have felt the identical hesitation. Since its founding in 2016, the corporate has solely offered about 6,000 bikes, Breakit reported. The Swedish publication additionally reported final month that CAKE’s workers would have their salaries delayed as a result of the corporate lacked sufficient funds to pay them.
It’s additionally in a doubtlessly tough state of affairs with buyers, as CAKE reportedly has six several types of shares, granting some house owners larger rights than others. Ytterborn informed Dagens Industri (DI) that that has made issues troublesome.
“As not too long ago as yesterday, I believed we had been on the end line,” he informed DI. “However on the final second, particular dedicated actors have chosen to drop out.”
CAKE didn’t return requests for touch upon Friday.