Cowboy Bikes: Last founder out – new dual leadership takes over

The Belgian e-bike startup Cowboy is under new leadership. The last co-founder remaining in the company has left his position as CTO.

Cowboy was largely taken over by the French Rebirth Group in December 2025. In the course of this, CEO and co-founder Adrien Roose had resigned. Now, the last co-founder, Tanguy Goretti, previously CTO, has also announced his withdrawal from the company's management. Two other managers will now take over in close cooperation with the Rebirth Group.

According to the announcement, Goretti will remain with the company in an advisory and board position. In this role, he will work directly "with the product and marketing teams to support the company's long-term vision, product roadmap, and brand DNA," it states.

Since its founding, Goretti has led the development of the company's products and technologies, building a fully integrated hardware and software platform for Cowboy's connected bikes.

New Dual Leadership

Under the new majority stake of the Rebirth Group, Cowboy will apparently have neither a CEO nor a CTO as a position within the company. Instead, Kjell Fastré and Oliver Barleben will take on managing director positions. Fastré only joined Cowboy in June 2025. According to Cowboy, he led the company's operational activities during the business closing phase. In the future, he will focus on sales and customer service.

Oliver Barleben joined Cowboy in 2022 and currently holds the role of "Chief Supply Chain Officer." At Cowboy, he has played "a key role in stabilizing and strengthening the supply chain and manufacturing." In his new managing director position, he will also oversee the supply chain and manufacturing "to restore delivery capability as quickly as possible." He will also lead the finance and technology departments, Cowboy said.

Focus on "Execution and Delivery"

"This transition reflects the next chapter for Cowboy," said Tanguy Goretti. "With Kjell and Oliver already leading key areas of the company, the company is well-positioned to focus on plan execution, stability, and long-term growth," Goretti is convinced.

The immediate main tasks of the new management team focus on the areas of task execution and delivery. Cowboy aims to fulfill its existing order backlog for bikes and spare parts by the end of February. In addition, delivery times are to be brought "back to a normal level," and the ongoing recall program is to be continued. The latter will be extended to Denmark and Germany in the coming weeks. Cowboy has not provided further details on the program.

For customers and employees of the company, more stability and reliability are likely to return under the new owner, after uncertainty about the future had prevailed in recent months.

(afl)