A deal in May 2022 became a casualty of a broader pullback by venture capital and investment professionals across the United States, as macroeconomic turbulence prompted a more conservative stance. The Catalan entrepreneur Pep Gomez, then 29, announced what he called the second major milestone of his career: a plan to sell his scooter-sharing company, Reby, to a Canadian firm with a 100 million dollar price tag. What appeared then to be a flawless triumph soon revealed rifts: the Canadian partner pulled back, the operation went to court, and a lack of funds pushed the Catalan venture into a tight spot, with months passing without pay and a lawsuit over non-payment in Italy, while vehicles were withdrawn from nearly all of Spain.
The trouble began in 2022, according to one partner in the Transalpine country. Founded in 2018, Reby had grown alongside the shared mobility boom, reaching a business volume around 15 million euros, about 70 employees, and a fleet of roughly 4,000 scooters by October 2021. Reby operated in Barcelona and other Spanish cities such as Seville, Tarragona, Terrassa, and Zaragoza, and also in Italian cities including Bergamo, Florence, Lecce, Naples, and Taranto.
The company expanded with strategic moves into new municipalities, betting that growth in each city would pay off. The founder, in his own account, built a small but central operation that employed 26 people and earned about 150,000 euros per month in revenue. Then came a halt in payments. A commercial executive from K-City, Pepe Morelli, recalls that vendors were told to wait because a funding round was imminent and payments would follow; the funding never materialized, and Reby paused.
Buyer response
As reported by Diario Ara in October of the previous year, the Canadian investor pulled out after making the first payment, and Reby accused them of stepping away. The United States was reportedly involved in leveraging the deal toward completion, though the reasons behind Lithium House’s withdrawal remain unclear. Some point to a market downturn that squeezed liquidity, while others say the buyer wanted to close before having complete information on the company.
In this climate, the resources tied to the operation were stretched. Reby’s Spanish investors felt mounting pressure as Gómez’s leadership faced scrutiny, with later claims of irregularities in the contract that could have blocked a final closing. “We formed our view from what we had,” they say, and the facts later appeared distorted.
Bankruptcy management
What surprised all parties — the Spanish investors, Gómez’s associates, and Italian partners — was the way the bankruptcy process unfolded. Gómez publicly promised to do everything possible to repay debts, while insisting he had stepped back from the company for months and that the Canadian fund would honor commitments this year. Some sources contend a message from last summer suggested otherwise, and the timeline did not align with promises. Questions linger about why the growth strategy remained so aggressive amid a fragile financial state and why workers faced three months without pay or job security while the company faced possible bankruptcy and the owner’s private assets remained unscathed.
“I was told that Lithium House had paid 15 million, while the Italian debt was reported at around 2 million euros, and I was told not to expect more payments,” Morelli said. After persistent pressure, K-City moved to file a lawsuit in January in Milan. A judge granted a brief reprieve to allow more time to settle the matter.
Efforts to reach the entrepreneur and the law firm representing the new Reby owners by EL PERIÓDICO yielded no response. Although there is no official information, sources indicate the company’s debts extend beyond the national market and into Italy and even China. As a result, operations have gradually diminished since the start of the year, with reports of vehicles being moved to warehouses in cities like Barcelona, Seville, Terrassa, Tarragona, and Zaragoza, as noted by regional outlets.