One of last year’s most innovative ebike manufacturers is on the brink of collapse. Last week, Ampler Bikes OÜ filed for bankruptcy with the Harju County Court in Estonia. As reported by Delfi Ärileht, a well-known Estonian business and financial news portal, the parent company is thus following a step that its Berlin-registered German subsidiary has already taken.
1. Ampler’s bankruptcy despite great ebikes
2. Expensive rent too much of a burden
3. Positive trend not enough
4. What happens next?
5. Who will handle maintenance and service for Ampler ebikes in the future?
6. How can you sell an Ampler ebike now whilst minimising your losses?
7. What impact does Ampler’s bankruptcy have on the Kõu Mobility Group?
8. What was the latest status of Ampler’s finances?
9. Who has invested money in the brand?
10. Background: Ebike pioneer from the Baltics
1. Ampler’s bankruptcy despite great ebikes
Awarded “Best City Living Bike of the Year 2024” at the Rider’s Choice Awards organized by Micromobility Industries. At Eurobike 2025, the Ampler Nova Pro won the Gold Award in the “Best Ebike” category. Most recently, the German Design Gold Award 2026 for the product design of the Ampler Nova. The list of awards Ampler has won in recent years is quite impressive. Especially since the company’s integration of a USB-C port as a charging connector on an ebike—a world first—provides a well-deserved reason for these honors.
This makes the news from Estonia all the more surprising. The astonishment subsides a bit when it becomes clear that the reason for the company’s impending demise was not a lack of interest in the ebikes or a problem with their quality. That would have greatly surprised us, given our own test rides and impressions at trade shows like Eurobike or Cyclingworld Europe in Düsseldorf.
2. Expensive rent too much of a burden
The cause of the crisis actually lies elsewhere entirely. This is evident from a statement in which Ampler board member Kristjan Maruste informed investors about current events. According to the statement, the main reason for the bankruptcy is the lease agreement for Ampler’s showroom in Berlin. The ebike manufacturer signed that lease in 2021—with a term of ten years and a rent that has proven to be too great a financial burden over the years.
According to Maruste, Ampler had been trying to get out of this lease for 18 months. However, he claims the landlord did not engage with these requests. Instead, he allegedly threatened a contractual penalty of 1.2 million euros for terminating the contract. A demand that Ampler apparently was unwilling or unable to meet, and which simultaneously deterred further investors from getting involved with Ampler.
“We would like to thank all investors for their participation in this journey,” Kristjan Maruste comments on the current developments in the letter. “Ampler’s management apologizes for failing to achieve the sustainable future we all worked toward.”
3. Positive trend not enough
With the acquisition of Ampler by the Kou Mobility Group in 2023 and subsequent changes in management, the manufacturer had further professionalized the development, production, management, and sales of its ebikes to achieve healthy and sustainable economic growth. The team focused specifically on addressing details that customers had reported as defective. Together with a new partner, Ampler developed a new battery system, improved the water resistance of the bike’s electronics, took the firmware to the next level, and implemented in-house fault diagnosis. For the Nova, introduced in 2025, Ampler extended the warranty to four years for the first time.
“It is important to emphasize how close the company was to achieving stability. Over the past two years, the team took major steps to improve the situation. The official restructuring process was successful: debts totaling nearly ten million euros were settled and deferred. Of the original debts, only 300,000 euros remain outstanding today,” Delfi quotes Kristjan Maruste as saying in its report.
4. What happens next?
With the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings, however, all this progress now appears to have been insufficient. The layoff of all 50 remaining employees has been announced. Maruste also mentions that the board of directors will propose to the bankruptcy trustee that the company’s assets be sold as a whole. This might make it possible to find a partner to continue operating the brand.
5. Who will handle maintenance and service for Ampler ebikes in the future?
It is highly likely that Ampler’s current service structures will soon become obsolete. This means that the showrooms in Tallinn, Berlin, and Zurich will have to close without replacement. There is no official word on what will become of the network of authorized service partners and so-called Ampler-friendly workshops.
However, it pays off here that Ampler has largely relied on standard components for its ebikes, which are also used by numerous other manufacturers. Maintenance and repairs not directly related to the ebike system can potentially be handled by any standard bike shop. It is currently impossible to reliably predict what the supply of proprietary parts such as batteries, the display, and cables will look like.
6. How can you sell an Ampler ebike now whilst minimising your losses?
The uncertainty regarding the future availability of spare parts for the ebike system in particular presents a serious problem that cannot be dismissed. Unless a successor company or another player steps in, an Ampler ebike will sooner or later become nothing more than a better spare parts warehouse.
Of course, the competition is well aware of this too. The Hungarian manufacturer Blurby was the first competitor to react, launching a trade-in scheme without further ado. The principle is very simple. You send your Ampler model to Blurby or hand it in at an authorised shop – the information available to us does not specify which. In any case, you will receive a credit note of up to 1,000 euros in return when purchasing an ebike from Blurby. The manufacturer appears not to be concerned about the technical condition of the ebike. It states that it will also accept models in part exchange where, for example, error codes are already appearing.
The actual amount of the credit note depends on which Ampler model you wish to trade in. Blurby grants the full amount of 1,000 euros for the latest Nova, Nova Pro and Curt model ranges. If the bike is an Axel, Juna, Stout, Stellar or a Curt from the 2022 to 2025 model years, the credit drops to 500 euros. If you wish to part with one of the first Stout, Stellar or Curt models from 2018 to 2021, Blurby will credit you with 250 euros.
This isn’t the first time Blurby has employed such a strategy. The manufacturer had already launched a similar scheme following Vanmoof’s bankruptcy. Even today, it still accepts certain Vanmoof models in part exchange. It also stocks a wide range of spare parts for Vanmoof.
Only you can decide whether Blurby’s offer is worth it for you. Without having ridden the ebikes ourselves, they do not seem to us to be quite on a par with Ampler. To our knowledge, for example, no other prominent ebike manufacturer uses the rear hub motor from the Chinese manufacturer Aikema fitted by Blurby. The battery solution also appears to be developed exclusively for Blurby. As a result, these ebikes feature proprietary components as well.
7. What impact does Ampler’s bankruptcy have on the Kõu Mobility Group?
Ampler Bikes ÖU has been part of the Kõu Mobility Group since 2023.
Under this umbrella, other urban mobility companies have joined, including Comodule, a specialist in software and IoT solutions; the e-scooter manufacturer Äike; and Tuul, an e-scooter rental service. We cannot say exactly what the current status of the entire group is. It is certain that Tuul had to file for bankruptcy as early as March 2026. Äike, on the other hand, is still on the market, even though all models are currently listed as sold out in the online shop. Comodule exhibited at this year’s Cyclingworld Europe and has just introduced a new cooperation partner, the U.S. ebike manufacturer Super73. There is no indication of financial difficulties there.
8. What was the latest status of Ampler’s finances?
As reported by Delfi Ärileht, Ampler’s figures for the first quarter of 2026 were considered promising. Revenue amounted to around one million euros. Over the past twelve months, a total of around four million euros was generated. This suggests steady growth.
9. Who has invested money in the brand?
Both Delfi Ärileht and the Estonian public broadcaster EER name Urban Mobility ÖU, along with its owners Tõnis Kaasik and Tõnu Puidak, as the main investors. It is also reported that they decided to withdraw certain funds allocated to Ampler due to the aforementioned lease agreement in Berlin. A look at other investors reveals just how popular the manufacturer is in its home country of Estonia. These reportedly include, for example, former Estonian Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev, former Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs Tiit Riisalo, and former professional cyclist Tanel Kangert.
10. Background: Ebike pioneer from the Baltics
Ampler says of itself that it didn’t wait for the ebike boom to happen, it started it.
At least as far as Estonia is concerned, there may well be some truth to this statement. After all, the manufacturer launched its first ebike at its headquarters in Tallinn as early as 2016. To date, more than 28,000 units have been sold. In August 2018, the first international showroom opened in Berlin. The opening of the showroom in Zurich followed almost exactly four years later.
Since the summer of 2022, the manufacturer has been listed on the Nasdaq Baltic First North. At its peak, a share there cost 21.50 euros. At that time, the company was worth more than 100 million euros. Most recently, however, the price per share was only 0.01 euros.
Pictures: Ampler Bikes OÜ