Cake
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Cake (CAKE 0 Emission AB) was a Swedish maker of high-design electric motorcycles and mopeds, founded in 2016 in Stockholm by Stefan Ytterborn. Its model families - the Kalk, Ösa, Makka and later Bukk - were lightweight electric off-road and urban bikes sold in eight major cities across seven markets. The company raised about $74 million ($14 million Series A in 2019, $60 million Series B in 2021 led by Swedish pension fund AMF) and sold around 6,000 bikes. It filed for bankruptcy in Sweden on 1 February 2024 after a funding round collapsed; the brand and intellectual property were acquired out of bankruptcy by Norway's Brages Holding, which restarted a much smaller operation.
02 / Cake FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
Ny Teknik (quoting CEO Stefan Ytterborn via Dagens Industri): Cake could not raise the capital needed to continue; talks with financiers for additional funds failed. Ytterborn cited several circumstances—climate issues no longer in focus, recession, and a dead late-stage venture-capital market with no takers for Cake’s stage.
CEO said negotiations with financiers for additional capital did not close, so the company could not fund continued operations.
Ytterborn attributed the situation in part to recession and climate issues no longer being in focus.
He said the late-stage VC ecosystem was completely dead with no takers for Cake’s stage.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Bankruptcy
Fylgia trustee notice: Cake 0 Emission AB (559014-2682) was declared bankrupt on 1 Feb 2024; Jakob Callmander appointed trustee and a bid process for the business opened. TechCrunch/Ny Teknik: CEO Stefan Ytterborn confirmed the filing.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Cake was founded in 2016 in Stockholm by Stefan Ytterborn to build high-design electric motorcycles and mopeds (Kalk, Ösa, Makka, Bukk).
- 02
It raised about $74 million ($14M Series A in 2019, $60M Series B in 2021 led by AMF) and sold around 6,000 bikes, but needed 7,500-10,000 bikes per year to reach profitability.
- 03
From late 2023 to early 2024, the company issued recalls (a steering-column risk on a moped; battery-fire risk on the flagship Kalk) and could not make payroll for its 139 employees.
- 04
A bridging funding round fell through on 31 January 2024 when a lead investor withdrew; Ytterborn blamed the dead late-stage venture market and the recession.
- 05
Cake filed for bankruptcy in Sweden on 1 February 2024 (event already recorded; kept as-is).
- 06
The brand and IP were acquired out of bankruptcy by Norway's Brages Holding (CEO Espen Digernes), which restarted a much smaller operation under former CTO Petra Färm, keeping the bikes and support network alive.
- 07
The post-mortem: premium electric motorcycles need scale to be profitable, and 6,000 bikes a year was not enough; when late-stage venture funding dried up, a boutique hardware maker with high fixed costs had no path to profitability.
- 08
No reliable realized loss figure with clear subject, period and basis has been disclosed; ~$74M raised is funding, not a loss.