Fisker zooms ahead with $85 million for battery-powered car
Fisker Automotive, maker of the jaw-dropping battery-powered Karma sports car (see above), announced that it’s landed $85 million in venture capital to begin production. The money came from Eco-Drive Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The Irvine, Calif. company has now raised more than $100 million for its vehicle, expected to sell for a little less than Tesla’s comparable roadster, at $87,900 a pop. It says it’s already fielded 1,300 reservations for the… Continue Reading
Pre-orders for Tesla’s new sedan top 500
Tesla Motors announced today that it has already received 520 orders for its recently unveiled Model S sedan, an all-electric vehicle capable of carrying seven passengers. Unlike the company’s flashier and more expensive roadster, the car is designed to fit the needs of middle-class families.
Reservations for the Model S started pouring in after its Los Angeles debut last week. Eventually, Tesla plans to offer its vehicles through its own retail stores slated to open in… Continue Reading
Tesla unveils electric sedan with sky-high hopes
Tesla Motors, still one of the major players in the electric vehicle game despite recent financial woes, has finally unveiled its hotly anticipated Model S sedan, slated to go on sale in late 2011. With a price tag of $50,000, the car is certainly more practical for prospective buyers than Tesla’s first submission — its $109,000 roadster (beautiful, but unrealistic in today’s economy). The San Carlos, Calif. company has clearly pinned its hopes on this… Continue Reading
Fisker ekes out $3M to put finishing touches on its swanky electric car
Fisker Automotive, maker of a luxury plug-in hybrid vehicle called the Karma, has squeezed an additional $3 million out of its private investors, bringing its total capital raised to more than $100 million — a staggering feat considering the state of the credit market. The Irvine, Calif. company raked in $65 million in September but says the recent addition to its third round is just the right amount to put finishing touches on the Karma… Continue Reading
Roundup: Yelp allegedly extorts, Twitter embraces its origins, Tesla CMO defects and more
Here’s the latest action:
The downturn finally hits HP — The company announced a 10 percent drop in earnings yesterday and plans to cut salaries. CNet has more.
Yelp accused of extortion, again — Local business owners report that the trendy review site offers to hide negative critiques in exchange for cash. And it’s not the first time Yelp has been called out for this.
TechCrunch reviews 2008 — Erick Schonfeld offers up insightful snapshots of last year’s startup, venture and… Continue Reading
Tesla forecasts 2009 profit, despite recent hard knocks
Electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors announced it will hit profitability by the second half of 2009. The statement was made in a recent company newsletter. Boosted by the $40 million in capital it raised from existing investors in December, the San Carlos, Calif.-based company said this prediction is based on pre-sales of its new Roadster vehicle model, which is already sold out through November of this year. On top of that, the Department of Energy… Continue Reading
Electric cars disappointed in 2008 — and 2009 won’t be different
The Detroit Auto Show is underway, and the world’s most famous vehicle brands are touting the next generation of cars. And although yesterday’s fervent promises of hydrogen-powered vehicles have mostly fallen away, they’ve been replaced with new promises, this time centered around the idea of the electric car.
Don’t believe the hype. Although electric vehicles are almost certainly the way forward, much of the motion is really a show intended to sway the opinion of consumers… Continue Reading
VantagePoint charges up on $435M for cleantech
The clouds may have rolled in for many other sectors in today’s economy, but the sun still shines on cleantech — and VantagePoint Venture Partners in particular. The San Bruno, Calif.-based firm just landed $435 million for its second fund, reports VentureWire.
The close comes as a solid rebuttal to industry insiders’ concerns that capital might dry up for cleantech in light of plummeting oil prices. VantagePoint’s portfolio includes many names that have remained largely above… Continue Reading
Tesla’s recent troubles
This picture from Wrecked Exotics, of a Tesla Roadster crashed in southern France by one of the company’s sales directors, pretty much says it all about the company’s recent troubles.
Tesla absorbs another $40M to keep the motor running
Tesla Motors has looked a bit shaky lately, starting with a staff layoff and an ouster of its CEO a little over two weeks ago and following with reports that the company had only $9 million left in the bank. But lead investor and new CEO Elon Musk has come through on his promise to find more funding for the company, picking up $40 million from existing investors.
The company issued a terse press release last… Continue Reading
Electric car maker Tesla low on cash, but won’t go bust (yet)
News moves quickly these days. Within hours of a rumor circulating that Tesla Motors is running low on cash, company CEO Elon Musk announced via Reuters that the company will close over $20 million in new funding by next week.
The rumor appears to have come from a company insider, present at an all-hands meeting called at Tesla’s headquarters. Both Left Lane and Valleywag reported, apparently independently, that the company had only $9 million left in… Continue Reading
Elon Musk steps in as CEO at Tesla, lays off staff
Tesla Motors, the maker of the high-performance Roadster, has become something of a symbol for the budding electric car industry. The many other startups in the space, then, should sit up and take notice of its latest move: A takeover of the CEO position by its chairman and chief investor, Elon Musk, the closure of an office near Detroit, and the layoff of dozens of employees.
Musk’s defensiveness is no real surprise. In a down economy,… Continue Reading
Tesla Motors to site its manufacturing plant in San Jose
Tesla Motors, the heavily-funded electric car company that produces the high-end Roadster sports car, has settled on a location in San Jose, Calif. for its manufacturing plant to make a more market-oriented car model.
The site of the new factory has been uncertain, while Tesla let various states and cities go through a bidding process of offering financial incentives. After deciding to site in the United States, the company in mid-summer allowed California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger… Continue Reading
Roundup: IPOs slow to a crawl, China gets music sales, Facebook competition kicks off and more
July was slowest for IPOs in five years — A measly 56 companies went public last month, raising $5.6 billion. Pretty depressing, compared to last year’s figure of 190 companies and $31.7 billion. This month is expected to be similarly slow, with a pickup coming late in the year or early next.
From free to 3 cents for music in China — Chinese startup Wawawa has a great idea: Actually charging for music in China, where the notion… Continue Reading
Roundup: Obama inspires tech ire, AOL possibly for sale, thin-film solar to surge, and more
Obama takes flack for telecom reversal — Barack Obama is about as smart as politicians get when it comes to technology, and even plans to name a chief technologist for the country if elected. But he has finally managed to offend the devoted, by changing his opinion on telecom immunity for Bush-era wiretapping and endorsing a bill that would expand the government’s power for domestic spying and protect telecommunication companies that assisted the Bush Administration. Some… Continue Reading
Tesla to manufacture the Model S in the Bay Area
In an event held today by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and electric vehicle startup Tesla Motors, a few more details were revealed about the lower-priced successor to Tesla’s Roadster, production of which is still getting underway.
In a surprise move, Tesla is canceling plans to build a manufacturing plant in New Mexico, where the company had been offered significant incentives to locate. It will now build its facility somewhere in the Bay Area, near its headquarters in… Continue Reading
Tesla Motors opens first store in L.A., talks about future plans
The Tesla Motors executive team and a gaggle of reporters and celebrities were out en masse yesterday to witness the grand opening of the company’s flagship store in Los Angeles. Close to 9 months in the making, the store was the culmination of several years of hard work — at times fraught with delays and production troubles — for the San Carlos, Calif., company.
The mood at the event was certainly upbeat: All the executives I… Continue Reading
Roundup: Farber takes over at CNET, Mozilla’s new email subsidiary, Scribd iPaper, and more
Here’s the latest action:
1) Dan Farber takes the helm at CNET
2) Mozilla launches email-focused subsidiary
3) Scribd creates iPaper, an Acrobat competitor
4) Hewlett-Packard has great first quarter
5) Tesla Motors pulls in another $40M
6) Verizon, AT&T unveil new unlimited wireless plans
7) Oligarchs, proletariat run amok in Silicon Valley
Scientists suck up CO2 to make alternative fuel
Dan Farber takes the helm at CNET — One familiar figure is stepping aside for another at CNET, where long-time editor-in-chief Jai Singh… Continue Reading
Tesla shooting for $250M in IPO and debt raise to produce the WhiteStar
Tesla Motors is planning to raise $250 million between a public offering and debt raise, according to a Financial Times interview with the company’s chairman, Elon Musk.
This marks the first time that a number has been attached to Tesla’s future fundraising plans. The company is already one of the most heavily funded cleantech startups, with $100 million raised to date plus an additional $40 million that it just closed.
Tesla will need the funds to accelerate… Continue Reading
Tesla unveils first production version of electric sports car
The first production version of Tesla’s Roadster, an electric sports car, was unveiled at the company’s San Carlos, Calif. facility earlier today. In fact, board chairman and proud new owner Elon Musk may be taking it for a spin as you read this.
“This represents the first production electric car on the road since God knows when,” Musk said.
This is good news for the company, which has had a tumultuous couple of months. We’ve reported on… Continue Reading