When it works, crowdfunding can be a great way to get a new idea off the ground. When it doesn’t, crowdfunding can often leave the customer holding the bag. That seems to be the case with eBike and electric motorcycle brand, Fuell.
After raising millions through Indiegogo and Prelaunch campaigns, one of those backers reached out to us yesterday to point out that Fuell had apparently just filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. That news was first reported on bankruptcyobserver.com, though it quickly spread through the internet and seems to be legit.
Our first thought was to reach out to the PR team which has communicated with us in the past for Fuell launches, only to find those email addresses to be terminated. A quick look at LinkedIn also revealed that Fuell CEO François-Xavier Terny’s tenure was marked as ending in October 2024. The final nail in the coffin comes in the form of a letter to creditors by Paul G. Swanson, that was recently uploaded to the Indiegogo campaign site as well as a notice of Bankruptcy filing.
Since Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves selling off nonexempt assets to pay off creditors, it’s unclear if those waiting on delivery from the crowdfunding campaigns are likely to receive their bikes. The letter states that they don’t have the money to assemble and ship products to its customers, but it does state that they have the parts necessary to assemble “the bulk, if not all of the pre-ordered electric bicycles” on hand.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out given that the Indiegogo campaign clearly (and boldly) calls out that this was a “guaranteed purchase”. If they guaranteed bicycle delivery and that doesn’t happen, does the obligation then fall on Indiegogo?
We’ll update this if we get more info.
