Sono Motors extends crowdfunding target deadline

With just over 32 million euros collected, the Sono Motors’ crowdfunding campaign launched in early December did not reach the target of 50 million euros by the initial New Years Eve deadline. However, the German electric vehicle startup has been given a vote of confidence by customers to extend the deadline to 20 January.

According to the Sono website on the 30.12.2019, in total, 3,408 reservation holders had increased their down payments, which amounted to 19,698,182 euros, and since the beginning of the campaign, 1,846 additional reservations were made, which resulted in calculated income of 7,377,302. Of these, 679 pre-orderers have already paid the full price or announced that they will do so – in fact, the link to the payment request will only be sent when the 50 million euro mark is reached. At that point, it remained to be seen whether the company would stick to this plan. “It is not all evening yet,” Sono spokeswoman Alexa Rauscher told local media on Monday. “We will not throw in the towel immediately.” At that point, the community were informed of the decision, and the company said they would make a public statement on their further plans.

Before the end of the initial deadline, 268 loans for a total of 980,850 euros were received, and a total of 85,961 euros had been donated. However, 720 reservation holders had also cancelled their advance orders for the Sion, which means expenditures of 1,437,065 euros.

There was a final growth spurt in the campaign itself before the end of the initial deadline of New Year’s Eve.  Around ten hours before the deadline, the counter stood at just over 28 million euros, but even the four million euros gained in the following ten hours was not enough to reach the target of 50 million euros. In a video released on New Year’s Eve, Sono CEOs Laurin Hahn and Jona Christians summarized the results of the crowdfunding campaign and offered the prospect of extending the campaign until 20 January, but said they would let the community decide by a vote by yesterday.

As Sono Motors announced in the new year, supporters voted in favour of extending the campaign until 20 January. Before the year’s end, 32,519,405 euros was collected without obligation, and by 2 January at 3 pm in the new year, 645,667 euros more was raised, exceeding the 33 million euro mark.

The startup’s radical change in the financing strategy was due to their dissatisfaction with the kinds of offers made by potential major investors. “In recent months, we have repeatedly found that our goals are in complete contradiction to those of classic financial investors,” said co-founder Laurin Hahn at the start of the campaign. “Aggressive growth and fast profits can hardly be reconciled with a sustainable business and vehicle concept that is intended to provide broad-based access to affordable and climate-friendly electromobility”.

The revenue generated will be used to finance the production facilities and further series prototypes of the Sion. It is clear that production of the first vehicles will be postponed until September 2021. If it is built at all: If the funding target is not met, the Sion will not be released in the planned form, the company originally said at the start of the crowdfunding campaign. It will be interesting to see how things develop.

In the recent extension of the deadline, the company intends to collect the missing 17,480,595 euros in payment obligations. “When this amount is collected, we will ask all supporters for payment. In this way we will continue to pursue the campaign goal of 50 million in total,” the company writes on the website. Important: The support promised by 30.12.2019 through reservations and topping-up is no longer legally binding, as the total threshold of 50 million has not been reached by 30.12.2019.

sonomotors.com, gruenderszene.de, electrive.net (all in German)