Pon Holdings buys consumer direct label Veloretti

Dutch consumer direct bicycle label Veloretti has been acquired by Cannondale and Gazelle parent Pon Holdings.

Producing mostly city bikes, both pedal powered and electric, as well as some kids’ models, Veloretti is one of a handful of labels to make a success of going direct, forecasting a turnover of €42 million this year.

The business started in 2012, founded by Ferry Zonder, and has in the ten years since grown to have 58 staff on the payroll. Customers in 26 European countries now access the Veloretti brand, which are Amsterdam designed and built in Europe. The production was formerly held in Asia, but was apparently pulled after the arrival of the first batch on quality control grounds.

The company was also impacted by some of the global supply constraints of recent times, namely the Ever Given ship’s closure of the Suez Canal, something that delayed the arrival of the business’s first electric bike.

Tapping into the lifestyle around urban cycling, Velorettti recently partnered clothing label Scotch & Soda to produce a range of six unique bicycles, with the clothing label marking the partnership with the launch of a collection of unisex weatherproofs built for cyclists.

Local media reports on the announcement also go into a light detail on a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Porsche, now the owner of eBike OEM supplier Fazua, with a view to developing an electric bike. There already existed a relationship on the import side of Pon’s business. As a further aside, there are also reports that the Pon Group is to entirely divest from the oil and gas sectors.

Pon recently opened the doors of a new assembly unit in Cloppenburg in a further bid to control and enhance its production capabilities. The group’s reach expanded notably with the €700 million acquisition of the Dorel Sports business, carrying Cannondale and mass market label Schwinn. As a result the group sold over 710,000 bicycles globally in 2021, with more than 60% of those carrying a motor.

Across all of its divisions, Pon Holdings saw its profits grow by over 100% last year, reaching €307 million.