Onyx Motorbikes is again, one 12 months after its proprietor died leaving the corporate in shambles | TechCrunch

A 12 months after Onyx Motorbikes proprietor James Khatiblou died all of the sudden, leaving prospects with unfulfilled orders and tens of millions in unpaid money owed, the model has been revived by its unique founder.

“I’m excited to announce I’ve resurrected my unique model Onyx with unbelievable backers!” founder Tim Seward wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday. “Onyx is actually again to the longer term now!”

The corporate is promoting solely about 100 RCRs electrical grime bikes to start out. It’s not clear if these are newly produced models, or if these are a part of the batch of e-bikes made earlier this 12 months by Onyx’s Chinese language provider that have been being held in limbo after Khatiblou’s dying.

Seward didn’t reply in time to TechCrunch to offer info on the corporate’s resurrection and which traders he secured to again the corporate.

Seward, who has designed e-bikes for Fowl and Ubco, constructed what can be the primary Onyx e-bike, the RCR, in 2016. After launching the corporate with an Indiegogo marketing campaign two years later, that design grew to become a success amongst a cult following of shoppers who liked the made-in-the-USA really feel, the Eighties attraction of the design full with a wood physique, and the highly effective capabilities of the bike.

In 2019, Seward offloaded his stake in Onyx to his pal and former co-worker, Khatiblou, who stumbled as a first-time proprietor as he tried to scale the corporate. Most of the selections he made created an internet of authorized and monetary troubles that also hasn’t been untangled. Khatiblou died with no will and no succession plan, a complication that floor all operations, together with buyer deliveries and funds to suppliers and collectors, to a halt. 

Oxygen Funding, an Orange County-based creditor, has claimed it’s owed $2.2 million in debt. In Might, Oxygen tried to petition the Los Angeles County probate court docket to develop into the administrator of Khatiblou’s property, which might enable it to manage Onyx’s remaining belongings and, ostensibly, promote these belongings to repay itself. 

Oxygen CEO Adam Lomax instructed TechCrunch on Tuesday he had no data of Onyx’s revival beneath Seward. He additionally famous that Oxygen’s petition to manage Khatiblou’s property continues to be in limbo, pending an as-yet unassigned court docket date, and that his firm nonetheless has not been paid again. 

Oxygen wasn’t the one creditor preventing for a bit of Onyx. Per a 2019 working settlement, Kenneth Ames, a former engineering and sourcing executive within the LED lighting enterprise based mostly in Simi Valley, and Troy Smith, a self-employed accountant based mostly in Carlsbad, maintain a 37.5% proportion curiosity in Onyx LLC. Onyx LLC can also be the entity that owns Onyx’s branding, in accordance with a trademark project settlement. 

It’s not clear whether or not Ames and Smith are concerned in Onyx’s revival. TechCrunch has reached out to Ames, Troy, and their counsel to be taught extra. TechCrunch will replace the article in the event that they reply.