Canoo, an EV startup that some guy named Jason once had very high hopes for, said Tuesday that it is worried for its future. This is sad news because, like Jason, I once was pretty hopeful about Canoo, too, which wanted to make what was more or less the anti-Cybertruck.
My colleague Adam Ismail touched on this a bit in The Morning Shift this morning, but I think it bears repeating that Canoo is staring at the abyss, which is too bad. According to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday:
Based on their assessment, our management has raised concerns about our ability to continue as a going concern. As substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern exists, our ability to finance our operations through the sale and issuance of debt or equity securities or through bank or other financing could be impaired. Management continues to explore raising additional capital through a combination of debt financing, other non-dilutive financing and/or equity financing to supplement the Company’s capitalisation and liquidity. However, management cannot conclude as of the date of this filing that its plans are probable of being successfully implemented. Our ability to continue as a going concern will depend on our ability to obtain additional capital.
Also in a portion that is both in bold and italics:
Our current business plans require a significant amount of capital. If we are unable to obtain sufficient funding or do not have access to capital, we may not be able to execute our business plans and our prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
This is basically a company screaming, “We are in deep shit,” but more formally so. I suppose that this current period of economic uncertainty was always going to get a few startup automakers and auto-adjacent companies caught out, but it’s still strange to think that just a couple of years ago there were so many startup automakers, and everyone was so hopeful. This is not the end of the road, either, for Canoo, though it is close, and a somewhat sobering reminder that #makingcarsishard.