Published April 3, 2012
By Jeff Cobb
Fisker Automotive recently closed on $392 million in private financing which is over twice what it had set out to achieve, and it now says it hopes to see this figure top half a billion.
A company spokesman was quoted by the Wall Street Journal this week as saying it first sought to raise $150 million, but filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show this was well exceeded.
Thus far Fisker has privately raised over $1 billion but it received unfavorable press when a U.S. Department of Energy low-interest loan for $529 million was frozen after $193 million was received.
Fisker has said one way or another it will succeed. One might observe also that if critics have objected to it taking taxpayer money, they may find less to complain about as Fisker is exceeding expectations in securing private investors’ trust in its plan to roll out extended-range electric cars.
The company has declined to say what amounts were specifically given by which parties, but previous investors have included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, A123 Systems, and others.
A123 Systems this time is known not to be participating in Fisker’s financial backing, and as its battery supplier, is undergoing a $55 million recall in automotive battery packs, and its stock has been trending down.
Fisker was founded in 2007 and has thus far delivered 650 of its Karma luxury sports cars in the U.S., Netherlands, and Germany, among other locations. It is showing its Nina project car badged as the Atlantic this week in New York which the company intends to build in GM’s former Boxwood plant in Wilmington, Del.
