Adaptive Power has recently entered the heart of Cowboy bike innovation. This technology adjusts motor power as you ride without forcing whether you’re heading into the wind or going uphill. The Grenoble-based company eBikeLabs, specializing in software solutions for electrically assisted bicycles, accuses Cowboy of copying its technology and attacks the Belgian company for patent infringement, know-how theft and unfair competition.
To understand, you have to go back a few years, when these two companies were partners. Created in 2015 by Maël Bosson, CEO of the start-up, eBikeLabs has developed an engine power management algorithm. With a PhD in mathematics and computer science, this passionate cyclist invented on-board artificial intelligence, inspired by the electronic boxes used by the automotive industry for autonomous cars.
A start-up purchase option
This technology, which has involved 2.5 million euros in R&D, detects obstacles while pedaling to adapt the effort in real time with a recoil that regenerates the battery when braking. It also has a lock to block the motor and make it impossible to pedal. The goal was to offer their technology to manufacturers of electrically assisted bicycles to integrate into their model. No fewer than seven patents have been filed.
Seduced by this project, Cowboy signed a one-year exclusivity contract with eBikeLabs in 2021 for the integration of this technology for an amount of 930,000 euros. According to information revealed by the Belgian economic daily the echo, the contract included an option to purchase the start-up later this year. eBikeLabs then fires its two salespeople who have become useless. But after this period, the Belgian manufacturer decides to end this association.
In an email sent to its shareholders (revealed by Maddyness), the startup says that it “offered to Cowboy to have their code analyzed by an independent expert to establish whether or not they violate our patent, which they have promptly denied.” without giving a reason’. In April, bailiffs seized Cowboy bicycles at the Bon Marché Rive Gauche in Paris, following a Paris court order.
Allegations refuted by Cowboy
Cowboy strongly refutes these accusations. The company even sued eBikeLabs for disrepute, claiming 100,000 euros in damages. In June she was fired and had to pay, according to our information, 5,000 euros to the startup.
The company also told us that its software has been gradually evolving, adding new features every year. Recently, it has supplemented it with Google Maps features by also providing “automatic unlocking, collision detection and air quality monitoring.”
In a letter to the Belgian newspaper L’Echo, Cowboy also states that “the development of the Adaptive Power functionality (…) is the result of work carried out independently by Cowboy teams, based on public knowledge.”
Iron pot vs. clay pot
Justice will have to say which of the two companies is right. But the case may resemble the fable of the iron pot versus the clay pot. For one thing, Cowboy is a financially heavy-handed company with solid means to pursue a long and expensive lawsuit. In just a few years it has become an emblematic European VAE brand.
In 2020, the company announced a fundraising of 23 million euros. The following year, it reached 80 million euros. In total, it has benefited from 106 million euros (120 million dollars) in 5 years. Among its investors, Hardware Club, ExorSeeds, the subsidiary of Exor (controlling shareholder of Ferrari and FCA), HCVC, Siam Capital, Index Ventures, Tiger Global and Eothen, Isomer Opportunities Fund. In 2022, Cowboy’s turnover exceeded 40 million euros with the sale of 20,000 bicycles.
eBikeLabs is far from these amounts. He launched a participatory financing in “crowdequity” on WiSeed raising more than one million euros with 600 donors who became shareholders. In total, it has obtained 2 million euros since its creation 8 years ago. Winner of BPI France’s I-Nov innovation contest, eBikeLabs has just obtained funding of 1.3 million euros.
image damage
To relaunch, the start-up, which had stopped all its commercial operations during the exclusivity period with Cowboy, aims to raise an additional 3 million euros this year, including 500,000 euros through a new crowdfunding campaign on Sowefund. The goal is to relaunch with other manufacturers. The startup is in talks with “a dozen brands” to integrate the technology into future bike ranges.
The Grenoble startup is now awaiting a court decision, which cannot be handed down before early 2024. But before then, the courts could temporarily ban Cowboy from selling AdaptivePower-equipped bikes pending the verdict. final.
Will the Belgian company go to trial or will an agreement be negotiated to avoid damage to the image? Neither of the two companies responds on this sensitive point that could be settled with millions. At the moment, they are ready to fight. Both consider themselves in their right and each one a victim of the other.
Source: BFM TV
