VanMoof pauses bike sales as rumors continue to swirl about its financial status

VanMoof announces that it is temporarily pausing bike sales. Although the Dutch firm claims it has done so to catch up on production and delivery of orders already placed, rumors about its financial status are once again resounding loudly. The company has sold 190,000 bikes since its inception and employs some 700 people.

VanMoof temporarily stops selling bikes: deliberate move or economic problems?

The VanMoof e-bike brand has always boasted of offering bikes that, beyond their performance and features, have had design and style as their main selling points. After the pandemic slowed down, many manufacturers increased sales in response to the increase in demand. In particular, electric bikes were one of the big beneficiaries, as they have been gaining ground in the cycling industry to reach record figures in recent years.

All this seemed to create a perfect climate for a brand like VanMoof. However, the reality goes in a different direction. Already in January, the Dutch company warned of its poor economic situation and relied on an injection of money from its investors. VanMoof closed last year with a loss of 11.9 million euros - 8 million of which was from warranty repairs and replacements.

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The situation may have worsened since then in light of the latest decision they have taken: to temporarily halt sales. The company explains on its website - which otherwise continues to operate normally - that they have done so "to catch up with production and delivery of existing orders. Please be assured that this has no effect on service. Sign up to be notified when we reopen sales."

Despite the explanations, rumors about their alleged economic situation have grown. In fact, it is believed that they have not achieved the financing —some media say they were asking for between 10 and 40 million euros— that they were looking for at the beginning of the year and that some of the directors have even left the company.

A few days ago they warned of a "bug" in their application that was causing it to not work, and added that they were working to fix it.

Tech Crunch reported a spokesperson for the brand as saying that "what started as a minor IT issue had an unexpected outcome. Both the SX4 and SA5 have proven to be very popular product lines, and the proactive sales pause will give us the opportunity to catch up on delivery and production of existing orders."

This same spokesperson explained that the break would only be for one weekend. At the moment there are no further messages explaining why this period has been extended.

Rumors also indicate that important players such as Taco Carlier -co-founder and CEO- and Gillian Tans -president- have left the company. VanMoof was founded in 2009 and since then they have carved a niche in the market with 190,000 bikes sold. Their current catalog offers six different models and the brand itself reports that they employ around 700 people.