Tauranga’s e-motorcycle maker Ubco goes into receivership

Tauranga-based electric motorcycle manufacturer Ubco has gone into receivership, only a few months after celebrating a major deal with Australia Post.

Grant Thornton’s Stephen Keen and David Ruscoe, appointed as receivers, say they have terminated all employees and ceased trading due to the lack of available funding. According to their statement, they hope to sell the business and are inviting expressions of interest. Further details on financials and outstanding debts were not provided.

Before receivership, Ubco’s LinkedIn data suggested around 82 employees remained, down from 109 at the same time last year. In August 2024, the firm’s chief executive, Oliver Hutaff, told media it had sold more than 6000 bikes globally and was in the process of raising new capital – a round that ultimately did not materialise.

Mark Phillips, who served as Managing Director of Ubco Australia from March 2020 until September 2022, claims the business failed partly because it avoided military sales. According to Phillips, he had initiated a defence-related bid opportunity for supplying electric bikes to the military, but certain members of the board opposed any involvement in defence contracts.

“It was a disappointing call,” Phillips says. “We might not have won the contract, but I saw it as a missed opportunity that highlighted broader issues in the company.”

He adds that Ubco’s rapid global expansion, lack of focus, and what he regards as an overly large management structure also contributed to its downfall. Phillips claims that resources were stretched too thinly on product development, including a trail bike and a quad bike that never reached market, leaving surplus unsellable bikes in warehouses.

Ubco first captured attention at Fieldays in 2015 with its near-silent, low-maintenance utility bike intended primarily for agricultural use. Over time, the company introduced faster, road-capable models and moved to incorporate cloud-based fleet management tools. In 2021, then-CEO Timothy Allan had signalled that a quad bike was on the way, but it never eventuated.

Before the receivership, Ubco’s largest shareholder was its Taiwanese manufacturing partner TPK, which took a significant stake in 2021. By the time it folded, TPK held around 40% of the company (directly and through its investment arm). Auckland-based venture-capital firm Global From Day One (GD1) owned around 21%, and various smaller investors, including participants via the Snowball Effect crowdfunding platform, also held shares.

In August 2024, Ubco announced it had secured a deal to supply Australia Post with 175 electric motorcycles, with scope for further orders to support the mail service’s 10,000-strong fleet. There was also a smaller pilot scheme with NZ Post, and some bikes were on trial with Domino’s for pizza deliveries.

Hutaff had previously indicated discussions were under way with NZ Post, to potentially replace or complement the Paxster vehicles used for local postal deliveries, but the receivership put an end to those expansion plans.