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Electric bike company Rad Power Bikes<\/a> filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, weeks after it warned employees that it could shut down without new funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company will continue to operate while the bankruptcy case proceeds, and it\u2019s looking to sell the business within 45-60 days, a spokesperson told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n \u201cThis step allows us to keep operating in the ordinary course of business while we pursue the best possible outcome for the people who rely on Rad every day,\u201d they said in a statement. \u201cOur goal is to keep the company intact and preserve the relationships we have built with riders, vendors, suppliers, and partners.\u201d<\/p>\n Rad Power is the latest in a series of e-bike companies from around the world to go through bankruptcy after pandemic-era excitement for the category wore off. Some of those companies have re-emerged, though, with VanMoof and Cake finding new owners during their respective court-led restructuring processes.<\/p>\n Rad itself had told employees<\/a> in November that there had been a \u201cvery promising\u201d option to keep the company afloat that was \u201clikely to close,\u201d but the deal fell apart. The company has not shared more details about that potential deal. <\/p>\n Weeks later, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a warning<\/a> that older Rad Power batteries posed \u201ca risk of serious injury and death\u201d after receiving 31 reports of fires. Rad Power said it \u201cstrongly disagrees\u201d with the CPSC\u2019s characterizations.<\/p>\n Rad\u2019s tough November came at the end of a fairly tumultuous few years for the company. It has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs and swapped CEOs<\/a> earlier this year<\/a>, bringing in an executive with decades of experience turning around underperforming companies. That new CEO, Kathi Lentzsch, said Rad was shifting away from the direct-to-consumer model that had helped fuel its rise and toward a retail-focused approach.<\/p>\n \u201cThis shift creates new opportunities to reach more riders, strengthen customer relationships, and evolve the brand in meaningful ways,\u201d she said in a statement at the time. \u201c[I]t\u2019s an incredible time to come on board.\u201d <\/p>\n The company said it entered the bankruptcy process with $32 million in assets and $73 million in liabilities. More than $8 million of its debt was owed to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency for unpaid tariffs. (The company has listed this claim as \u201cdisputed\u201d in the bankruptcy paperwork.)<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how much that contributed to Rad\u2019s slide into bankruptcy. But it wouldn\u2019t be the first time that Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs helped push a micromobility company over the edge. During his first term, Trump\u2019s tariffs on Chinese imports helped take the remaining wind out of<\/a> electric skateboard company Boosted\u2019s sails. Boosted went under shortly after.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n