N'Go's rescuer pulled out days before the deadline — the hunt began again

N'Go Shoes, founded in Nantes around 2017 by Kevin Gougeon and Ronan Collin, built an ethical sneaker brand — shoes made in Vietnam, sold chiefly through its own online store — around the promise that producing responsibly could be a business, not a niche. After nine years, the model ran into the market: on 17 December 2025 the company filed for receivership at its own request, presenting the procedure as a lever to bounce back.

The founders believed the exit was already arranged. Leadcap, an independent investment holding based in Angers, was ready to put €300,000 into the company; to leave receivership quickly, a binding offer had to be lodged before 2 March 2026. By the founders' account the file was finished to the last detail. Then Leadcap withdrew at the last minute, choosing to invest in other projects.

With the rescue gone, Kevin Gougeon obtained a postponement of the offer deadline to 30 April and restarted the search from zero — funds, business-angel networks, private individuals — for at least €100,000. The money had a defined job: finance the working capital of the autumn-winter 2026 collection and modernise the online store, which had reached its limits but remained the brand's main sales channel.

The case is a small one in euros and a precise one in mechanics: a receivership entered voluntarily, a single rescuer, a single deadline, and a withdrawal late enough to leave no alternative in place. For a brand whose sales run through one channel, losing the rescue and the season's production budget at the same moment left nothing to fall back on.