Founder of Meetic, Marc Simoncini; has launched himself into a new venture called Angell. It is a company that is focused on bikes and presents itself as the first smart bike in the world.
After the creation of Meetic and Heroïn, Simoncini gathered the necessary experience from both technology and cycling to be able to fuse these things together. His newest project, Angell; is a bike that uses electric assistance to help the rider pedal forwards up to speeds of 25 km/h. While electric vehicles run silent and are easily chargeable anywhere, they usually come with a huge drawback; their weight. To battle this heavy downside, they built the bike with carbon fiber and aluminum resulting in a featherweight 14kg. The idea was simple; creating the Tesla of bicycles.
Just like Tesla, Angell's objective is not only creating a beautiful, high-tech bike but a vehicle that becomes part of everyday life for commuters. France, where Angell is founded, has one of the lowest percentages of commuters using bikes in West Europe. To compare, The Netherlands lead with a staggering 31% and Germany falls back at 13% but France heavily lacks digits at only 2%. For a serial entrepreneur, this low market share presents in itself an opportunity to give supply to a market that will only rise in demand.
To change the way people commute, you would have to make their alternative choice very, very pleasant. The vehicle itself has to preserve the French joie-de-vivre. First of all, the bike packs a punch in terms of features. It has Bluetooth connectivity which pairs with your phone. It also features an integrated alarm system and tracking system. What sets it apart though, is its integrated display. It is not just a fancy replacement for the instrument cluster but it has a multitude of software functions. A big part of research and development for Angell was focused on software, to truly make it a smart connected bike. When paired with your phone, you can easily set a destination and the bike will give you on-the-go directions, showing you arrows in the integrated displays and even vibrating the handlebars when you need to turn. The screen can also be used to choose your level of assistance which will make uphill commutes a breeze.
While software development was left to some of the best engineers available, the exterior of the bike was designated to be designed by Ora Ïto. The French designer is a multifaceted talent that has designed everything; from your coffee machine to conceptual UFO machines for Citroën. Ora Ïto wanted to keep the bike looking simple and functional while still embracing its smart brain and futuristic features. In his own signature style, he managed to encapsulate this smart bike into the familiar, timeless bipedal silhouette.
We expect to see the Angell bike debut in Summer 2020, priced at 2690 € with monthly payment plans available for buyers. You can preorder yours for only 269€.
