Florida dealer purchases bankrupt Cake’s U.S. inventory of e-bikes

Michael Joyce, managing partner of Emoto, an e-bike dealership in St. Petersburg, Florida, recently told tech startup website TechCrunch that he bought out all of the inventory of recently bankrupt Swedish e-bike maker Cake.

The bikes that were purchased included the Makka and Ösa, which were in Cake’s inventory in the U.S. Joyce also purchased all of the accessories and spare parts. However, he didn’t buy any of the Kalk electric motorcycles, as those have been recalled for battery and steering column problems.

Joyce told TechCrunch that he hopes to help revive the Cake brand with the purchase, or at least buy some time until he can find another premium brand as a replacement.

“The last thing that I want as a dealer is the consumer left alone and not having confidence in the brand.”

-Michael Joyce, TechCrunch

Joyce reports that he is working with Bloom, a micromobility company, to warehouse his inventory and help ship the bikes to customers around the country.

Cake quietly filed for bankruptcy earlier this month (February) after failing to raise a Series C funding round. Cake founder and CEO Stefan Ytterborn reportedly even tried making a deal with Harley-Davidson and traditional automakers after their funding options dried up.

Cake’s bankruptcy was a surprise to many, including Joyce, whose dealership is built around the brand. He says that the inventory acquisition gives him about 6-12 months to find other e-bike brands to work with, according to the report.

Joyce opened Emoto last year and struggled to sell Cake bikes in the beginning until he worked out a deal to sell their products on consignment. He told TC that it helped fill out his retail space having fully assembled bikes on the show floor with all of the accessories on them.

“Having the bikes fully assembled in front of [customers] with accessories makes a big difference,” he says. “Pointing at it and saying, ‘this can be yours’ – it was something beneficial.”

Michael Joyce, Emoto

The rise and fall of some electric motorcycle and e-bike companies has been dramatic in the past few years. Cake came in with great fanfare and was identified as one of the world’s most innovative companies by Fast Company in both 2020 and 2021 and received Time Magazine‘s 100 most important inventions award in 2021. 

Source: TechCrunch, Electrek