CAKE, Sweden's premium electric motorcycle maker, bankrupt at 6,000 bikes

CAKE was founded in 2017 by Stefan Ytterborn, a Swedish entrepreneur who had previously built the outdoor brand POC. The company designed and manufactured premium lightweight electric motorcycles and mopeds for on- and off-road use. With a sleek Scandinavian design and a focus on sustainability, CAKE quickly became one of the most visible electric motorcycle startups in Europe.

The company raised $74.4 million from investors including Swedish pension giant AMF. It opened flagship stores in Stockholm, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Seoul, and Tokyo, and built a 2,800 sqm factory in Sweden. By early 2024, CAKE had sold approximately 6,000 vehicles across five motorcycle models and one children's bicycle.

But CAKE was not profitable. The company needed to sell 7,500 to 10,000 vehicles per year to reach cash-flow break-even. In late 2023, a Series C round of $7.6 million fell through when an investor withdrew at the last minute. The broader venture capital market for later-stage mobility startups had dried up. CAKE had already issued two product recalls — one for a steering column defect, another after a motorcycle caught fire in a South Korean dealership — and could not pay its 140 employees their January salaries.

On February 1, 2024, CAKE filed for bankruptcy. The brand and intellectual property were later acquired by Norwegian company Brages Holding AS, which reopened the Stockholm headquarters with a small core team. The original company was gone, but the brand survived under new ownership.