Source: Fonds Karim Slaoui

A fund created in memory of the co-founder of the Cowboy e-bike brand aims to find innovative, elegant and low-cost solutions for those in a wheelchair.

Karim Slaoui was a tech optimist, known for his boundless energy and big smile. As a professional, he was a mad scientist, capable of building the coolest electric bikes from scratch as a hardware entrepreneur at his company Cowboy. He died in 2023 much too young of synovial sarcoma.

In 2023, a metastasis paralyzed him from the chest down. Despite trying numerous clinical trials across three countries and five hospitals, he passed away in September 2023. During this journey, Karim and his wife experienced the challenges of using a wheelchair in all aspects of their daily life, even in hospital surroundings.

Karim believed that everyone should be able to live independently and saw a clear lack of innovation for affordable, low-tech products for wheelchair users – only high-end, high-cost solutions which are out of the financial reach for most people. This prompted Karim to ask his wife, Aurore, to create a fund in his memory. The goal was to support entrepreneurs in developing prototypes to help people in similar situations maintain their independence.​

Donations to the fund can be made here.