Technology
How VanMoof’s new owners plan to win back their old customers
When VanMoof filed for bankruptcy last 12 months, it left some 5,000 customers who had ordered e-bikes within the lurch. Now VanMoof is under new management, and the corporate’s current owners are courting those self same customers by offering them a €1,000 discount on a new bike.
It’s an audacious strategy, based on the belief that stranded customers will love VanMoof bikes a lot that they may spend several thousand euros more on them.
Before the corporate went bankrupt, VanMoof asked customers to pay almost all the amount after they pre-ordered, in a move intended to provide the startup with working capital, which also resulted in long waits for delivery. The bikes cost between 2,300 and a pair of,500 euros, depending on the model and 12 months.
Today’s models – full size S5 with 27.5-inch wheels and a straight frame, in addition to smaller A5 with 24-inch wheels and a step-through frame – costs €3,298. This signifies that customers who want to make the most of this discount can have to pay one other €2,298 on top of what they already paid for the undelivered e-bike. In simpler terms, they’d have spent a complete of close to €5,600 on a single VanMoof bike.
“Of course it’s not a complete solution. We’re very aware of that,” Eliott Wertheimer, VanMoof’s co-CEO, told TechCrunch. “We see it as a gesture to help people get back on the road who still believe in (VanMoof).”
By the time VanMoof filed for bankruptcy in July 2023, it had raised nearly $200 million in enterprise capital and built a cult following with its vision of sleek, stylish, uncluttered e-bikes designed from start to finish and controlled by an integrated app. The style was there, however the startup lacked execution. Using custom parts meant the bikes often broke down, and replacing those parts in a timely manner was difficult, especially with out a solid service network. According to Wertheimer, the corporate also used the VC money to artificially lower prices in a way that quickly became unsustainable.
Lavoie, a division of McLaren Applied that was founded in 2022 to construct electric scooters, acquired VanMoof in August 2023. Since then, Lavoie has worked to reestablish VanMoof’s supply chain and create a broad service network throughout Europe and parts of the United States; revitalize VanMoof’s tech ecosystem, including its app and website; and redesign VanMoof’s core products. In other words, today VanMoof claims to offer more reliable, repairable e-bikes which have undergone McLaren’s design testing and iteration process.
“We’ve already gone through a restructuring, we’ve already gone through a restart. We’re starting to figure out how to reestablish the brand and get it going again,” Wertheimer said. “A constant consideration throughout this journey has been, what can we do for the people who haven’t gotten their bikes?”
The answer, apparently, is to try to lure customers with discounts slightly than give them their money back, since that cash is tied up in bankruptcy proceedings. Wertheimer told TechCrunch that the cash customers used to pay for their bikes, in addition to the bikes themselves, are a part of the bankruptcy estate, which is being managed by trustees within the Netherlands. That means Lavoie has no access to those funds.
“Anything we could do to support people who didn’t get bikes from the old company will have to come out of our own pockets,” Wertheimer said, noting that €1,000 is essentially the most Lavoie can afford “without putting our existence at risk.”
Wertheimer also noted that the bankruptcy process is ongoing, and customers can still receive partial refunds once it’s complete. Although given the likely long line of secured creditors and priority unsecured creditors ahead of those customers (not to mention the legal costs related to the bankruptcy process), customers probably shouldn’t hold their breath.
People who want to make the most of the discount can apply for it Herebut be prepared for a slightly convoluted process.
When Lavoie took over VanMoof, he couldn’t access the corporate’s customer orders due to a mixture of a chaotic back office and data-sharing restrictions stemming from the European GDPR. That means customers who want to claim their discount can have to contact VanMoof directly and supply documentation to prove they placed an order.
They will even have to undergo the entire strategy of trying to get the cash back from their bank via chargeback, in the event that they haven’t already. VanMoof will only provide discounts to individuals who can prove they’ve tried and failed to get their money back this fashion.
Those who take all of the steps and make a purchase order have until December 31, 2027 to make the most of the discount.
It’s unclear whether VanMoof’s strategy can pay off. One thing is needless to say: The startup’s future will depend on its ability to regain customer trust and deliver on its guarantees. Customers can have to determine whether the allure of a horny, redesigned e-bike is definitely worth the price and energy, or whether past failures will keep them away for good.
Technology
The company is currently developing washing machines for humans
Forget about cold baths. Washing machines for people may soon be a brand new solution.
According to at least one Japanese the oldest newspapersOsaka-based shower head maker Science has developed a cockpit-shaped device that fills with water when a bather sits on a seat in the center and measures an individual’s heart rate and other biological data using sensors to make sure the temperature is good. “It also projects images onto the inside of the transparent cover to make the person feel refreshed,” the power says.
The device, dubbed “Mirai Ningen Sentakuki” (the human washing machine of the longer term), may never go on sale. Indeed, for now the company’s plans are limited to the Osaka trade fair in April, where as much as eight people will have the option to experience a 15-minute “wash and dry” every day after first booking.
Apparently a version for home use is within the works.
Technology
Zepto raises another $350 million amid retail upheaval in India
Zepto has secured $350 million in latest financing, its third round of financing in six months, because the Indian high-speed trading startup strengthens its position against competitors ahead of a planned public offering next yr.
Indian family offices, high-net-worth individuals and asset manager Motilal Oswal invested in the round, maintaining Zepto’s $5 billion valuation. Motilal co-founder Raamdeo Agrawal, family offices Mankind Pharma, RP-Sanjiv Goenka, Cello, Haldiram’s, Sekhsaria and Kalyan, in addition to stars Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar are amongst those backing the brand new enterprise, which is India’s largest fully national primary round.
The funding push comes as Zepto rushes so as to add Indian investors to its capitalization table, with foreign ownership now exceeding two-thirds. TechCrunch first reported on the brand new round’s deliberations last month. The Mumbai-based startup has raised over $1.35 billion since June.
Fast commerce sales – delivering groceries and other items to customers’ doors in 10 minutes – will exceed $6 billion this yr in India. Morgan Stanley predicts that this market shall be value $42 billion by 2030, accounting for 18.4% of total e-commerce and a pair of.5% of retail sales. These strong growth prospects have forced established players including Flipkart, Myntra and Nykaa to cut back delivery times as they lose touch with specialized delivery apps.
While high-speed commerce has not taken off in many of the world, the model seems to work particularly well in India, where unorganized retail stores are ever-present.
High-speed trading platforms are creating “parallel trading for consumers seeking convenience” in India, Morgan Stanley wrote in a note this month.
Zepto and its rivals – Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy-owned Instamart and Tata-owned BigBasket – currently operate on lower margins than traditional retail, and Morgan Stanley expects market leaders to realize contribution margins of 7-8% and adjusted EBITDA margins to greater than 5% by 2030. (Zepto currently spends about 35 million dollars monthly).
An investor presentation reviewed by TechCrunch shows that Zepto, which handles greater than 7 million total orders every day in greater than 17 cities, is heading in the right direction to realize annual sales of $2 billion. It anticipates 150% growth over the following 12 months, CEO Aadit Palicha told investors in August. The startup plans to go public in India next yr.
However, the rapid growth of high-speed trading has had a devastating impact on the mom-and-pop stores that dot hundreds of Indian cities, towns and villages.
According to the All India Federation of Consumer Products Distributors, about 200,000 local stores closed last yr, with 90,000 in major cities where high-speed trading is more prevalent.
The federation has warned that without regulatory intervention, more local shops shall be vulnerable to closure as fast trading platforms prioritize growth over sustainable practices.
Zepto said it has created job opportunities for tons of of hundreds of gig employees. “From day one, our vision has been to play a small role in nation building, create millions of jobs and offer better services to Indian consumers,” Palicha said in an announcement.
Regulatory challenges arise. Unless an e-commerce company is a majority shareholder of an Indian company or person, current regulations prevent it from operating on a listing model. Fast trading corporations don’t currently follow these rules.
Technology
Wiz acquires Dazz for $450 million to expand cybersecurity platform
Wizardone of the talked about names within the cybersecurity world, is making a major acquisition to expand its reach of cloud security products, especially amongst developers. This is buying Dazzlespecialist in solving security problems and risk management. Sources say the deal is valued at $450 million, which incorporates money and stock.
This is a leap within the startup’s latest round of funding. In July, we reported that Dazz had raised $50 million at a post-money valuation of just below $400 million.
Remediation and posture management – two areas of focus for Dazz – are key services within the cybersecurity market that Wiz hasn’t sorted in addition to it wanted.
“Dazz is a leader in this market, with the best talent and the best customers, which fits perfectly into the company culture,” Assaf Rappaport, CEO of Wiz, said in an interview.
Remediation, which refers to helping you understand and resolve vulnerabilities, shapes how an enterprise actually handles the various vulnerability alerts it could receive from the network. Posture management is a more preventive product: it allows a company to higher understand the scale, shape and performance of its network from a perspective, allowing it to construct higher security services around it.
Dazz will proceed to operate as a separate entity while it’s integrated into the larger Wiz stack. Wiz has made a reputation for itself as a “one-stop shop,” and Rappaport said the integrated offering will proceed to be a core a part of it.
He believes this contrasts with what number of other SaaS corporations are built. In the safety industry, there are, Rappaport said, “a lot of Frankenstein mashups where companies prioritize revenue over building a single technology stack that actually works as a platform.” It could be assumed that integration is much more necessary in cybersecurity than in other areas of enterprise IT.
Wiz and Dazz already had an in depth relationship before this deal. Merat Bahat — the CEO who co-founded Dazz with Tomer Schwartz and Yuval Ofir (CTO and VP of R&D, respectively) — worked closely with Assaf Rappaport at Microsoft, which acquired his previous startup Adallom.
After Rappaport left to found Wiz together with his former Adallom co-founders, CTO Ami Luttwak, VP of Product Yinon Costica and VP of R&D Roy Reznik, Bahat was one in all the primary investors. Similarly, when Bahat founded Dazz, Assaf was a small investor in it.
The connection goes deeper than work colleagues. Bahat and Rappaport are also close friends, and she or he was the second family of Mickey, Rappaport’s beloved dog, referred to as Chief Dog Officer Wiz (together with LinkedIn profile). Once the deal was done, the 2 faced two very sad events: each Bahat and Mika’s mother died.
“We hope for a new chapter of positivity,” Bahat said. The cycle of life does indeed proceed.
Rumors of this takeover began to appear earlier this month; Rappaport confirmed that they then began talking seriously.
But that is not the one M&A conversation Wiz has gotten involved in. Earlier this 12 months, Google tried to buy Wiz itself for $23 billion to construct a major cybersecurity business. Wiz walked away from the deal, which might have been the biggest in Google’s history, partly because Rappaport believed Wiz could turn into a fair larger company by itself terms. And that is what this agreement goals to do.
This acquisition is a test for Wiz, which earlier this 12 months filled its coffers with $1 billion solely for M&A purposes (it has raised almost $2 billion in total, and we hear the subsequent round will close in just a few weeks). . Other offers included purchasing Gem security for $350 million, but Dazz is its largest acquisition ever.
More mergers and acquisitions could also be coming. “We believe next year will be an acquisition year for us,” Rappaport said.
In an interview with TC, Luttwak said that one in all Wiz’s priorities now’s to create more tools for developers that have in mind what they need to do their jobs.
Enterprises have made significant investments in cloud services to speed up operations and make their IT more agile, but this shift has include a significantly modified security profile for these organizations: network and data architectures are more complex and attack surfaces are larger, creating opportunities for malicious hackers to find ways to to hack into these systems. Artificial intelligence makes all of this far more difficult when it comes to malicious attackers. (It’s also a chance: the brand new generation of tools for our defense relies on artificial intelligence.)
Wiz’s unique selling point is its all-in-one approach. Drawing data from AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and other cloud environments, Wiz scans applications, data and network processes for security risk aspects and provides its users with a series of detailed views to understand where these threats occur, offering over a dozen products covering the areas, corresponding to code security, container environment security, and provide chain security, in addition to quite a few partner integrations for those working with other vendors (or to enable features that Wiz doesn’t offer directly).
Indeed, Wiz offered some extent of repair to help prioritize and fix problems, but as Luttwak said, the Dazz product is solely higher.
“We now have a platform that actually provides a 360-degree view of risk across infrastructure and applications,” he said. “Dazz is a leader in attack surface management, the ability to collect vulnerability signals from the application layer across the entire stack and build the most incredible context that allows you to trace the situation back to engineers to help with remediation.”
For Dazz’s part, once I interviewed Bahat in July 2024, when Dazz raised $50 million at a $350 million valuation, she extolled the virtues of constructing strong solutions and this week said the third quarter was “amazing.”
“But market dynamics are what trigger these types of transactions,” she said. She confirmed that Dazz had also received takeover offers from other corporations. “If you think about the customers and joint customers that we have with Wiz, it makes sense for them to have it on one platform.”
And a few of Dazz’s competitors are still going it alone: Cyera, like Dazz, an authority in attack surface management, just yesterday announced a rise of $300 million at a valuation of $5 billion (which confirms our information). But what’s going to he do with this money? Make acquisitions, after all.
Wiz says it currently has annual recurring revenue of $500 million (it has a goal of $1 billion ARR next 12 months) and has greater than 45% of its Fortune 100 customers. Dazz said ARR is within the tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars and currently growing 500% on a customer base of roughly 100 organizations.
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