Canoo, the Californian startup of electric mobility, is listed on the Stock Exchange. The company founded in 2017 by former BMW executives has in fact announced that the merger with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp., already listed on the Nasdaq, will arrive by the autumn and that the operation (the new shares will be renamed CNOO) will raise $600 million necessary to put its first vehicle into production by 2022. The new company will have a value of 2,4 billion and the capital increase will also be supported by an institutional investor such as BlackRock, which will pay 300 million dollars.
The new creature founded by former BMW Ulrich Kranz and Stefan Krause, based in Los Angeles, is in a hurry and the reason is soon explained: its flagship product is a particularly innovative vehicle, a seven-seater electric van which, however, cannot be buy. In fact, it will be offered exclusively by subscription, to make the transition to a new transport formula freer and more economically accessible, the cornerstones of which are electric and a new concept of shared transport. In short, more than a product you will buy a service. Registration will be without costs or obligations, after which you will pay a single fee on a monthly basis which includes maintenance, insurance and electricity supply.
The vehicle is then a jewel: in addition to carrying up to seven people, the architecture of this minivan allows you to create a lounge that can be used even when the vehicle is stationary, to relax. Basically, the declared range is more than 400 km. The revolutionary project is therefore about to attack the financial markets and probably does so at the best possible moment, taking advantage of the bullish phase of the American stock market, despite the Covid crisis, and above all following in the footsteps of other electric mobility startups who have taken the same step recently. There is for example Nikola Motor, founded in 2016 based in Arizona and specializing in hydrogen and battery powered trucks.
Or the pioneer of road sensors Velodyne Lidar, or the new life of Fisker, a US car company founded in 2007 and bankrupt within a few years, whose brand was however relaunched in 2016 aiming at the electric car market. Not to mention the Chinese "invasion", with the recent listing, within a few months, of Li Auto and XPeng Motors, the two "Chinese Teslas" which reach compatriot Nio, listed on the Nasdaq for almost two years. During this period, Nio's share price rose 25% to $8, bringing the capitalization to $8 billion.
But now it's the turn of the ambitious Canoo, which will not be limited to the subscription electric van. The startup is developing a delivery vehicle it plans to put into production by 2023 and in February closed a deal with Hyundai to create a low-cost platform, leveraging its "skateboard" technology, that the South Korean auto giant will be able to use for a range of electric cars and trucks. “Unlike any other electric vehicle company – commented HCAC CEO Daniel Hennessy in this regard -, Canoo has created a go-to-market strategy that captures both consumer and corporate demand, thanks to skateboard technology” .
After all, the experience of the two founders of Canoo speaks for them: CEO Kranz spent more than 30 years with BMW's research and development team and helped create models including its i3 plug-in hatchback and i8 supercar. Another co-founder, Richard Kim, head of design at Canoo, previously worked on vehicles for startup Faraday Future, helped design the BMW i3 and i8, worked on Volkswagen and Audi projects, and even worked on business jet interiors. Embraer and luxury yachts. A mix of knowledge that will now be tested on the market.
