Dutch e-bike startup VanMoof is back two years after bankruptcy with its first model designed under new leadership. And despite past criticism that VanMoof’s over-reliance on custom parts led to the company’s downfall, the S6 sticks to the brand’s signature bespoke design.
Today, VanMoof is betting that higher-quality custom parts, alongside a more robust servicing network, will allow it to stay true to its design-forward, tech-heavy core, while avoiding the repair and servicing pitfalls that came out of scaling a specialized product too quickly.
“I don’t think there’s a reason for VanMoof to exist if we’re going to use off-the-shelf parts like everyone else,” co-CEO Elliot Wertheimer told TechCrunch backstage at Micromobility Europe in Brussels this week. “We’re here to push design, to have a bike that, if you’ve never ridden an e-bike in your life, you get on it and it’s intuitive. Easy, like an iPhone.”
VanMoof previously raised more than $200 million in venture capital and gained a cult following for its premium, minimalist-designed e-bikes equipped with integrated lights, batteries, and motors.
VanMoof’s unique selling point became its biggest liability. Like many venture-backed hardware businesses, the company grew too quickly to operate sustainably. When bikes broke down, customers were left stranded by an underdeveloped repair network and constrained supply — a consequence of the company’s decision to use custom parts instead of off-the-shelf components.
The startup filed for bankruptcy in July 2023. A month later it was scooped up by e-scooter maker Lavoie, a business division of McLaren Applied, which itself was formerly a part of McLaren Group that builds parts for the McLaren F1.
Wertheimer said with support from McLaren Applied’s Formula 1 expertise, VanMoof was able to redesign every component that had caused issues in past models, using performance data to create more reliable custom parts. Many of those parts are co-designed with large manufacturers, which not only assures quality, but also availability of parts should anything happen to VanMoof again, according to Wertheimer.
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In certain areas of the business, VanMoof relented to a more industry-standard approach. The company’s batteries, for example, are now co-designed and manufactured by Panasonic; VanMoof only supplies the mechanical and software integration. Previously, VanMoof had led on battery design.
The real critical piece, though, is an improved support network, according to Wertheimer.
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