Phil Molyneux, CEO of Seattle-based Rad Energy Bikes, has left the corporate beneath unclear circumstances, marking one other main management shake-up for the embattled e-bike model.
Molyneux, who beforehand held government positions at Sony and Dyson, had been main Rad Energy Bikes since late 2022. Molyneux’s LinkedIn profile now lists his tenure at Rad Energy Bikes as having lately ended. As well as, his LinkedIn standing has been up to date to “contemplating what subsequent”.
Regardless of Molyneux apparently signaling his departure, Rad Energy Bikes has not made an official announcement. The corporate has additionally not but responded to Electrek’s requests for remark.
The management change comes as Rad Energy Bikes continues to navigate a sequence of economic and operational challenges. The corporate has undergone a number of rounds of layoffs, the latest publicly-announced spherical occurring in mid-2024, in an effort to stabilize its enterprise. As well as, Rad exited the European market in mid-2023, focusing solely on North America after years of aggressive enlargement.
The one remaining C-level government at Rad Energy Bikes now seems to be the corporate’s CFO, Stephanie Roberts.
Now Molyneux’s exit raises questions concerning the firm’s future path, as Rad has confronted growing competitors from a rising variety of direct-to-consumer e-bike manufacturers and mounting strain from evolving e-bike laws throughout the U.S.
Including to the uncertainty, a evaluate of workers on LinkedIn additionally appears to point that one other spherical of layoffs has lately taken place or is at present ongoing. It stays unclear whether or not Molyneux’s exit was a part of a deliberate transition or the results of deeper struggles inside the firm.
Molyneux initially took over as CEO from Rad Energy Bikes founder Mike Radenbaugh, who stepped down from the function in November 2022 however remained concerned with the corporate as a board member. On the time, the management change was framed as a part of a transfer to strengthen Rad’s operational effectivity amid provide chain challenges and shifting client demand.
As soon as a dominant pressure within the U.S. e-bike market, Rad Energy Bikes was one of the well-funded micromobility startups, elevating over $300 million in enterprise capital to gasoline its enlargement. Nonetheless, its fast development was adopted by cost-cutting measures, layoffs, lawsuits associated to product security considerations, and the recall of 1000’s of e-bikes as a consequence of brake defects.
The uncertainty comes at a time when a number of different once-leading electrical bicycle corporations have shuttered their doorways after turning into overextended and unable to boost enough capital to cowl their liabilities.
With Molyneux now out, the corporate faces an unsure highway forward. Rad Energy Bikes’ subsequent management transfer shall be carefully watched because the e-bike business continues to evolve in an more and more aggressive and controlled surroundings.
[Update: Rad Power Bikes responded to a request for comment with the following statement to Electrek:
“Rad Power Bikes recently announced a leadership transition, with Phil Molyneux stepping away from the company. Over the past three years, Phil has helped Rad achieve significant milestones, from launching new products to advancing safety innovations, and we thank him for his leadership and expertise. CFO Stephanie Roberts, who joined Rad alongside Phil, will assume the role of interim CEO while a search for the next CEO is underway. Phil will continue to advise Stephanie to ensure a smooth transition.
While it is always challenging to make these decisions, we are approaching this transition with empathy and unwavering support for our talented team members and are confident that this pivot will better support our riders and the advancement of our mission going forward. Our priorities remain delivering great products and service for our riders, supporting our retail partners, and encouraging more people to Ride Rad.
In addition, Rad Power Bikes continued its strategic pivot to support a more significant focus on physical retail, which required downsizing our teams involved in the direct-to-consumer business. The best experience for our customers is when they can see and test ride our ebikes at a local bike shop or Rad Retail location near them. Our Rad Retail and retail partner teams remain fully intact and ready to support new and existing riders, as well as local bike shops.”]
Electrek’s Take
It’s unclear what is going on at Rad Energy Bikes (and the truth that my PR contacts had been sadly a part of the latest layoffs isn’t serving to me make the matter any clearer). Nonetheless, the writing has been on the wall for a while. We’ve basically misplaced rely of the variety of rounds of layoffs at Rad for the reason that firm shortly stopped publicizing them, however its fairly apparent that gross sales and operations have considerably decreased over the previous few years.
The final business has been hurting throughout that point, however a number of different direct-to-consumer corporations like Lectric Ebikes and Aventon appear to have weathered the storm nicely, both by doubling down on accessibility and affordability for the previous or with the help of main Chinese language monetary backing for the latter. Rad has additionally raised main capital over time however had a burn-rate unmatched within the business as a consequence of its extremely massive workforce, which means the corporate has racked up its liabilities at an alarming fee. Even after many rounds of layoffs, it doesn’t seem that the corporate has been capable of recatch the wave that propelled it to the highest of the business just some quick years in the past.
On the identical time, the corporate nonetheless has its collectors who can’t wait endlessly for his or her investments (or to proceed writing checks into perpetuity). All of that is to say that regardless of Rad not but sharing perception into the present scenario, the easy reality of the matter is that it doesn’t look good in Seattle.
