Electrification firm Veloce Energy closing at Forge; assets to be auctioned

LOVELAND — Veloce Energy Inc., a startup company that develops modular devices to make electrification easier is closing its operations at Loveland’s Forge Campus, and its assets are being sold at auction from Thursday through Nov. 7.

Veloce is the second such company with headquarters at the Forge to close within a year. Lightning eMotors Inc., which converted conventional, fossil-fuel-burning vehicles into zero-emission electric vehicles for fleet-operating customers that included municipalities, school systems and medical businesses, ceased operations late last year after it entered receivership, and its assets were acquired by Gerco LLC, a subsidiary of Livermore, California-based Gillig LLC. Some of those assets were auctioned in May by Tiger Group, the same company that will begin placing Veloce’s machinery, intellectual property and other assets up for bid on Thursday.

“Veloce Energy is known for creating Fastgrid, a platform geared toward more efficient deployment and operation of infrastructure such as EV charging stations, commercial solar installations and industrial storage facilities,” Chad Farrell, managing director of Tiger Commercial & Industrial, said in a prepared statement. “The company was part of the ‘grid edge’ tech movement, which focuses on modernizing the grid and accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels.”

The online auction is the latest asset disposition administered by Tiger Group that involves ng “green,” clean-energy and EV-related companies. Besides Lightning eMotors, it also auctioned the assets of Romeo Power and AquaHydrex.

“We’re seeing explosive creativity in these sectors,” Farrell said. “However, the competition for customers and funding is incredibly intense. It is not uncommon for startups with valuable and potentially game-changing technologies to simply run out of money, which appears to be the case with Veloce Energy.”

That speculation was confirmed in a filing earlier this month in Denver District Court by Aaron Garber of Littleton-based Wadsworth Garber Warner Conrardy P.C., the representative assigned to direct Tiger Group’s auction of Veloce’s assets.

“Exigent circumstances leading up to the filing of this assignment for the benefit of creditors justify the sale of the Company’s assets,” the court was told. “The Company has suffered ongoing declines in revenues, which caused it to default on payments to creditors, taxing authorities, trade vendors and other creditors.

“Of immediate importance is the Company’s default on the lease for the premises out of which it operated and the location of its tangible assets … located at 815 14th St.  SW, Suite D120” in Loveland. “It is integral to expeditiously sell the Company’s assets to preserve the assets for the benefit of creditors.”

Veloce’s website is offline, and a person  answered its telephone number but said she was not on site and that its CEO, Jeffery Wolfe, was unavailable.

However, Jay Dokter, general partner for the Forge Campus, said “their stuff is still there. It’s a very similar situation to Lightning. The receiver is in there tagging everything, then there’ll be an online auction, people will come in and pick up their stuff, and they’ll be gone.”

Dokter said Veloce had occupied about 20,000 square feet at the Forge Campus and “probably had less than 25 employees.”

“This plant is extremely clean, with all tools and test equipment — including pieces by leading brands such as Agilent and Oztec — being late-model and in good condition,” Farrell said.

Companies in a wide array of sectors, not just the grid-edge space, could benefit from the manufacturing, assembly and testing equipment available in the sale, he added. “It’s an excellent buying opportunity.”

Born during the pandemic, Veloce, which means “fast” in Italian, got its start with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, and received a finalist spot with Cleantech.org’s Beyond Energy Innovation Challenge in 2021. After a nationwide search, it housed its operations at 1255 Red Cedar Circle in Fort Collins for a year, then moved to the Forge Campus in May 2022.

A deed and trust agreement filed with the Larimer County Clerk and Recorder also outlines the “wind-down” of a Veloce affiliate in Poland.

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