Image: Woom Bikes
Started ten years ago as a start-up in a Viennese garage, is now a medium-sized company with 250 employees worldwide and more than 100 million sales: This is Woom’s balance sheet. The company based in Klosterneuburg, which specializes in children’s bicycles, has made a name for itself in a niche.
“Our target group starts at the age of two and goes up to a maximum of 13 years,” says commercial director Paul Fattinger. Company founders Marcus Ihlenfeld and Christian Bezdeka, a marketing manager and a biomedical engineer, wanted to develop bikes that fit children’s proportions and handling. The company grew as demand increased.
On the one hand, children’s bikes have to be a lot lighter than bikes for adults and, on the other hand, they have to be adapted to the proportions, for example with narrower handles, says Fattinger, who has been with Woom since October 2021.
According to the company, it has already brought seven generations of bikes onto the market, and the eighth is in the planning stage. Prices start at 229 euros and go up to 3000 euros for an electric children’s mountain bike. Last year around 400,000 bicycles were sold in 30 countries. The aim is to maintain the annual growth rate of 100,000 wheels, says Fattinger.
The bikes are developed in Austria and produced in Poland. Individual components such as shift forks come from Asia. Distribution takes place via the online shop and specialist dealers. In Austria there are 60 dealers.
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