Belgian Startup Any Bets on Cargo Space for Electric Two-Wheelers
Belgian startup Any is betting that the missing link between cars and two-wheelers is cargo space, and its first product, the modular electric motorcycle **...
Belgian startup Any is betting that the missing link between cars and two-wheelers is cargo space, and its first product, the modular electric motorcycle LUV1, packs up to 120 liters of storage into a ride that tops out at 100 km/h. With 600+ preorders secured in its first 100 days, a design pedigree from former Pininfarina creative director Lowie Vermeersch, and a €7,000 starting price, Any is now chasing a €10 million Series A to prove that "life utility vehicles" can crack Europe's car-centric mobility habit. For anyone tracking electric mobility, delivery economics, or the rise of configurable hardware, this is a story about what happens when EV design stops copying cars and starts solving real daily logistics.
Section 1: Background: Why European Cities Are Still Car Countries
Walk through Paris, Brussels, or Amsterdam and you'd be forgiven for thinking Europeans have abandoned cars. They haven't. Cars remain the default for urban mobility across Europe, and a generation of micromobility startups has learned the hard way that cute scooters don't replace the psychological safety net of a trunk.
The insight behind Any's LUV1 is deceptively simple: people don't ride motorcycles to work because motorcycles can't carry the week's groceries, a suitcase, or a weekend bag. As the company put it on LinkedIn, the design came from asking "what does a real week actually need?" The answer was a vehicle that merges:
- The speed and range of a motorcycle (100 km/h top speed, up to 87 miles per charge)
- The carrying capacity of a cargo bike (120 liters of storage)
- The licensing ease of a light motorcycle (A1 license, which is far simpler to obtain than a full motorcycle license in most markets)
That combination is what Any calls a "life utility vehicle" (LUV) — a deliberately new category designed to fill the gap between four wheels and two.
Section 2: The Core News: The LUV1 Is a Motorcycle That Thinks Like a Cargo Bike
The LUV1 isn't a concept. It's a production-bound product with an open configurator, a refundable €49 reservation fee, and a delivery roadmap. Here's what was announced and what it means:
The key numbers at a glance
| Attribute | LUV1 (Any) | High-end e-cargo bike | Entry e-motorcycle (typical) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | €7,000 (~$8,150) | €4,000–€8,000+ | €6,000–€12,000 |
| Cargo capacity | Up to 120 liters | 100–200 liters | Minimal/underseat only |
| Top speed | 100 km/h (62 mph) | ~25 km/h (assisted) | 90–130 km/h |
| License required | A1 (light motorcycle) | None/cyclist | A1 or A2 |
| Range | Up to 87 miles per charge | 30–60 miles | 50–100 miles |
| Batteries | 2x swappable | Typically 1-2 integrated | 1-2 integrated |
How the preorder model works
- Customers pick a frame style — open frame or paneled variants for pets, work equipment, or camping gear.
- They add modular extras like a windshield, racks, or a rain poncho through the online configurator.
- They place a €49 refundable reservation, which is credited toward the final purchase price.
- Any tallies the orders to shape production priorities before first deliveries.
The buzz from the May reveal at Milan Design Week did heavy lifting: more than 600 reservations landed in the first 100 days. That's meaningful traction for a startup that has raised just €2.75 million ($3.2 million) to date, across a €1.5 million round in November and a €1.25 million top-up in May.
Section 3: Why This Matters: The Trunk Is a Feature, Not a Luxury
The stakes here go far beyond one Belgian motorcycle startup. The European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) expects the two-wheeler market to be mostly electric by 2030. Every incumbent is pivoting, but almost all of them are building electric versions of the same gasoline-era shapes: sport bikes, scooters, and cruisers. Any is asking a different question — what would a two-wheeler look like if it were designed around a shopping list?
That question matters for three reasons:
- Last-mile delivery economics. De Winter told TechCrunch that delivery players have already approached the startup. In India, where Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy have made 10-minute delivery a national obsession, a cargo-capable electric two-wheeler with swappable batteries could theoretically change fleet cost structures.
- The family commute. If a two-wheeler can replace a second car for school runs, groceries, and weekend trips, the addressable market expands from enthusiasts to everyday households.
- Category creation. Any isn't competing feature-for-feature; it's trying to define the "LUV" segment the way SUV became a category decades ago. First mover in a new category gets pricing power and mindshare.
The funding reality check
| Funding stage | Amount | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Seed (November) | €1.5 million | Product development, team |
| Seed top-up (May) | €1.25 million | Prototype, design, preorder launch |
| Series A (target) | ~€10 million+ ($11.65M) | Production ramp, first deliveries, portfolio expansion |
The €10 million Series A, targeted to close by the end of 2026, is the real test. Any can't scale the LUV1's production on €2.75 million, and investors will be watching whether 600 reservations convert into paid orders once production timelines firm up.
Section 4: Key Details: Design Pedigree, Swappable Batteries, and a Serious Team
The Vermeersch factor
The LUV1's head-turning silhouette isn't an accident. Lowie Vermeersch, former design director at Pininfarina (the studio behind countless Ferrari and Alfa Romeo icons), is not just a hired gun — he's Any's creative director and an investor. His firm Granstudio handles creative direction. That's the kind of design authority that gets a startup featured in design week coverage before a single unit ships.
Batteries and range
The LUV1 runs on two swappable batteries giving a combined range of up to 87 miles per charge. Swappable packs are a big deal for two use cases:
- Urban commuters who can't install a home charger can swap at stations instead.
- Delivery fleets can hot-swap packs instead of parking vehicles for charging, maximizing uptime.
Engineering credibility
Any poached Alessandro Mangano as head of engineering, whose CV includes Aprilia, Ferrari, and the Piaggio Group. Combined with CEO Pieter Van de Velde, a former VC, the team blends racing-grade engineering with capital-markets discipline. This matters because hardware startups die on manufacturing execution, not design awards.
The A1 license play
Requiring only an A1 license (available in most European countries to riders from age 16-18 with a light training course) dramatically widens the funnel. Millions of Europeans who would never attempt a full motorcycle license can legally ride the LUV1. That's a regulatory moat that traditional motorcycles can't match.
Section 5: Competitive Landscape: A Crowded Road Ahead
The two-wheeler EV race is already crowded, and Any is entering against giants with vastly deeper pockets:
| Player | Positioning | Threat level to Any |
|---|---|---|
| Piaggio Group | Scooter dominance, expanding EV line | High — distribution muscle |
| Harley-Davidson (LiveWire) | Premium electric performance | Medium — different buyer |
| Ola Electric / Ather (India) | High-volume affordable e-scooters | Medium — price aggression |
| Cargo bike makers (Urban Arrow, Riese & Müller) | True cargo capacity, but slow | Low — speed/range gap |
| Any (LUV1) | Speed + cargo + modularity hybrid | N/A — category creator |
The ACEM projection that the European two-wheeler market goes mostly electric by 2030 means incumbents will flood the segment with me-too products. Any's defense is that nobody else is building a cargo-first, motorcycle-speed vehicle — and the modularity (pet panels, gear racks, windshield options) makes each unit configurable rather than commoditized.
But the startup itself admits it isn't stopping at the LUV1. A "portfolio of vehicles" is in the works, potentially including a third-wheeler — a hint that Any sees itself as a mobility platform company, not a single-model OEM. The risk is scope creep: hardware startups that announce three products before shipping one tend to choke.
What This Means for AI-Tool and AI-News Publishers
This story is a gift for publishers covering AI, EV tech, and the creator economy, because it bundles hardware design, digital commerce, and logistics into one narrative. Here are five concrete content angles:
- "AI in EV design" explainer. Cover how generative design tools and digital configurators (like Any's) are reshaping hardware product development. This is an SEO-friendly evergreen topic with high search volume among Indian engineers and startups.
- The configurator as a conversion funnel. Any's €49 refundable reservation model is a masterclass in preorder UX. Break it down for startup founders: pricing psychology, refundable deposits, and urgency mechanics. Compare it with Ola Electric's or Ather's launch playbooks in India.
- Battery swapping: the India angle. Tie Any's swappable batteries to Bounce, Sun Mobility, and NIO's swapping networks. Compare infrastructure costs and write a "what India can learn from Europe" piece.
- Last-mile delivery fleet economics. Use the LUV1 as a case study for how Zomato, Swiggy, and Blinkit could rethink rider vehicles. Include rough TCO (total cost of ownership) math: battery swap vs. charging vs. fuel.
- "Life utility vehicles" as a trend to watch. Track the term "LUV" — publishers who define and rank for a new category early win the search traffic later. Write a trend-watch series on new vehicle categories emerging from the EV transition.
For newsletter writers, the Milan Design Week-to-preorder arc is a ready-made "how a startup built buzz without a launch event" story. For SEO, target long-tail queries like "electric motorcycle with cargo space," "A1 license electric motorcycle," and "EV battery swapping Europe vs India."
Challenges Ahead: The Honest Assessment
For all its design polish, Any faces serious headwinds:
- Production ramp is the graveyard of hardware startups. The company has raised €2.75 million and needs €10 million+ to scale manufacturing. Tooling, certification, and supply chain for two-wheelers are brutally expensive.
- The 600 reservations could evaporate. They're refundable, and the €49 fee is a weak commitment signal. Conversion rates on refundable preorders typically fall well short of 100%.
- A1 licensing varies by country. "Easy to obtain in most places" is not the same as "uniform across Europe." Regulatory fragmentation will slow rollout.
- Delivery fleet interest is unproven. Being "approached" by last-mile players is not a signed contract. Fleet buyers demand service networks, spare parts, and uptime guarantees that a young startup can't yet offer.
- Incumbent retaliation. Piaggio and others can copy the cargo-first design and undercut on price using existing manufacturing scale.
- The 2030 timeline cuts both ways. A mostly-electric market by 2030 means Any has ~3-4 years to establish its category before the giants fully commit. That's a short runway.
Final Thoughts
Any's LUV1 is a reminder that the electric vehicle transition isn't just about swapping powertrains — it's about rethinking what a vehicle is for. By designing around a week's worth of groceries instead of a weekend of adrenaline, Any is attacking the exact reason most urban Europeans still own cars. Whether it survives the brutal economics of hardware manufacturing is an open question, but the category it's trying to create — the life utility vehicle — is the kind of genuinely new idea that the EV boom has been starving for.
FAQ
What is the Any LUV1?
The LUV1 is a modular electric motorcycle from Belgian startup Any that combines up to 120 liters of cargo space with a 100 km/h top speed and an 87-mile range, designed as a category it calls the "life utility vehicle."
How much does the LUV1 cost?
It starts at €7,000 (~$8,150), with the final price depending on options chosen through Any's online configurator, such as frame panels, windshields, racks, and a rain poncho.
What license do you need to ride it?
The LUV1 requires an A1 license, which is a light-motorcycle license that's significantly easier and cheaper to obtain than a full motorcycle license in most European countries.
When will the LUV1 be delivered?
Any hasn't announced a firm delivery date, but it is seeking a €10 million+ Series A by the end of 2026 to ramp up production ahead of first customer deliveries.
How many reservations has Any secured?
The startup secured more than 600 reservations in its first 100 days, each backed by a €49 fully refundable deposit that's credited toward the purchase price.
Who are the main competitors?
The LUV1 competes with electric models from Piaggio and Harley-Davidson, high-end electric cargo bikes, and — in markets like India — volume players like Ola Electric and Ather, though Any argues its cargo-plus-speed combination has no direct equivalent yet.
