Sono Motors hits €50M-target through crowdfunding

Sono Motors has exceeded its crowdfunding target of 50 million euros and has extended the campaign until 20 January. The Munich-based company announced this on Saturday evening on Twitter – two days before the deadline.

+ + Kindly see our update below ++

A key factor in the campaign’s success was the participation of existing investors, who gave Sono Motors a financing commitment of a further 10 million euros earlier this month. In the initial crowd-funding round, which was scheduled to run until 30 December 2019, Sono Motors had failed to meet the target of 50 million euros it had set itself. In the period since the beginning of December, however, just over 32.5 million euros had been raised – partly through new reservations including down payments, and partly by increasing existing down payments, donations or loans.

https://t.co/2SQldsr8UM pic.twitter.com/AiNeuOVvXs

— Sono Motors (@SonoMotors) January 18, 2020

Subsequently, the founders decided to let the community vote on extending the campaign until 20 January, which 94 per cent of investors and reservation holders supported. Sono Motors has thus generated the difference to the 50-million-euro target within three weeks by extending the campaign. The proceeds will be used to finance tooling and further series prototypes of the Sion, the company’s debut solar electric car. However, it is already clear that production of the first vehicles will be postponed until September 2021.

The reason for the radical change in the financing strategy was the failure of talks with a significant investor. “In recent months, we have repeatedly found that our goals are completely at odds with those of traditional financial investors,” says Co-CEO Hahn. “Aggressive growth and rapid profits can hardly be reconciled with a sustainable corporate and vehicle concept that aims to provide broad access to affordable and climate-friendly electric mobility.”

Update Tuesday 21 January 2020: After reaching the target of 50 million Euros on Saturday, Sono Motors was able to generate additional capital and now has completed the campaign with over 53 million Euros.

Around 75 per cent of the money comes from Sion reservation holders and 19 per cent from existing and new investors. The remaining approximately six per cent was generated through loans and donations. “Together with the community, we will continue on our path to bring the Sion into production as quickly as possible,” promises Laurin Hahn, CEO and co-founder of Sono Motors. According to the company, there are currently 13,000 pre-orders for the Sion.

twitter.com, sonomotors.com (update)