Angell Bike one of the few bicycles made in France accessible to the general public. Launched in 2019, this two-wheeler launched by Marc Simoncini, founder of Meetic and member of the Daphni investment fund, has already reached its maturity period and its future is already on the agenda.
This entrepreneur is passionate about cycling. He has created two brands, Heroin for custom-built racing bikes, and Angell, a smart, lightweight (less than 17kg) electric bike made for daily commutes around town. The first is aimed at a restricted audience. The vocation of the second is to impose itself throughout the world with the ambition of becoming an alternative to the car.
“We are preparing a fundraiser for a launch in other European countries,” confided Marc Simoncini during the “En route pour matin” program on BFM Business.
Europe, North America and Asia
The small startup is thinking big with multi-phase, multi-year growth. First Europe (Germany, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Italy and Spain), then North America and Asia.
“It will require many adaptations because in countries where it can be -20° the battery does not behave the same as in Paris. The same for countries like the United States where the people are bigger and that have other legislation such as the speed limit of 45 km/h instead of 25 km/h here, it is a technological complexity”, explains Marc Simoncini.
For this project, Angell has its shareholder partner, SEB, which assembles the bicycles in France, training its staff in this new activity. This partnership between a tech startup and a bicentennial industrialist is rare. Groupe SEB has factories all over the world. Angell’s technology could thus be exported to a factory in Vietnam producing for Asia or to Canada for the American market.
“We allow them to diversify and in return they provide us with their industrial knowledge. Without SEB we would not have been able to make 165 improvements in the process. Because at the beginning we made 165 mistakes, you have to admit that,” admits Marc Simoncini.
An Angell freighter in two years?
Angell’s other project is the design of a new model that adds to the two, the sport, light and fast, and the cruiser, equipped for the city and more comfortable, that already exist.
“Our mission is to decarbonize cities. We are focusing on putting more bicycles and fewer thermal cars in cities. We think in terms of the city and we make bicycles to go to work”.
Will the future Angell be a freighter? Marc Simoncini doesn’t say so, but he doesn’t rule it out either. The answer is certainly in the question, but it will take him another two years to find out. In any case, it is not possible to make a cheaper bike, or even sell more.
“Making light, smart bicycles in France, produced in France and cheap. With or without SEB, it’s impossible!” says Marc Simoncini, recalling that the price of an electric bicycle is comparable to that of a car. .
But, above all, this price, considered high, is that of “made in France”. The sport model costs 2,740 euros and the Cruiser 2,990 euros.
“Producing it in France, our frame costs eight times more than that of our competitor that manufactures in Asia. We can’t even pass on the additional cost, otherwise it would cost 8,000 euros. Made in France is a complicated equation in this industry.”
In two years, the small cycle start-up has sold 5,000 copies in France.
Source: BFM TV
