Has Revonte to quit before it really gets going?

For a long time, the Finnish manufacturer Revonte was considered the next promising candidate to come onto the market with a modern concept of motor and gearbox in one unit. Now, however, sobering news has reached us from the far north. Revonte has to file for bankruptcy. The future of the “Revonte One” drive is thus written in the stars.

On 26th September 2023, the Pirkanmaa District Court opened bankruptcy proceedings for Revonte Oy. The law firm Borenius Attorneys Ltd, in the person of attorney Robert Peldán, was appointed to supervise the proceedings. As of now, all assets are up for sale. This includes all patents belonging to the company.

Is the sun rather setting for Revonte or is there still a glimmer of hope?

Revonte Germany GmbH, founded in 2020 with CEO Uwe Daniel, is also affected by the insolvency. The experienced manager joined the Revonte team in 2019. In addition to managing the company’s German subsidiary, he served as vice president of sales and was an important part of the leadership team at Revonte.

Victim of unfavourable framework conditions

Otto Crohns, one of the founders and CEO of Revonte Oy, considers the reason for the insolvency to be the current slump in the bicycle industry after previous record years. In a post on LinkedIn, he points out that “the company was not able to secure further funding in a very difficult market situation.” With the help of further financing, Revonte wanted to further develop its drive system. The aim was to make it lighter and more cost-efficient in production so that it could compete successfully with the competition in the long term. To this end, a fundraising campaign had already been launched in 2022. However, the hoped-for success failed to materialise.

Revonte One on display at the hGears stand at Eurobike 2023

In an interview with the German bike magazine Radmarkt, Uwe Daniel added that “a Series A investment round failed at the last second.” In such a round, companies raise capital from external investors in order to make the step from start-up to a serious market player. Apparently, the sudden failure created a financial gap that could no longer be closed.

Project up to date

Up to this point, relevant experts and media had attested the Revonte One the necessary potential to convince bicycle manufacturers of the qualities of the drive. For example, the Electric Mountain Bike Network, better known by its abbreviation EMBN, spoke of a “really interesting innovation”. The system, consisting of a mid-mounted motor with integrated stepless transmission, was on public display for the first time at Eurobike 2019. Similar to Pinion’s MGU and the Owuru from E2 Drives, the motor and gearing are no longer considered and installed separately from each other, but find their place in a common housing in the middle of the bike.

System for different types of ebikes

In 2022, Revonte found a partner in the German manufacturer hGears who was willing and able to produce the Revonte One. Series production started in spring 2023. Among the first recipients of the drive was the company Ouca Bikes. Their versatile three-wheeled cargo bike exemplified the users for whom Revonte had designed its product.

The sector of vehicles for the last mile was by no means to remain the only target group. Since the beginning of the development work, the focus had also been on the use of the system in e-mountain bikes. A prototype of the manufacturer Pässillä, also from Finland, gave an idea of what this could look like. It integrated the Revonte One into an ebike with a titanium frame.

This looked just as imaginable as the test bikes demonstrated at this year’s Eurobike in Frankfurt am Main. These were rather trekking ebikes. For these, Revonte had collaborated with the German carbon specialist V-Frames.

Maybe some of you were able to take this test bike for a ride at the Eurobike.

Perhaps this was one of the last opportunities to ride an ebike with a Revonte One. Perhaps the team around Otto Crohns will continue in a different constellation under a new roof. We’ll keep an eye on things for you.

Pictures: Revonte Oy, Mubu Oy, Pässilä Bicycles