Video footage meant for investors has leaked, showing Aptera Motors co-founders and co-CEOs Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony discussing many topics about the solar EV startup’s future, including a potential IPO.
Usually, when we share progress updates from notable solar EV developer Aptera Motors, they come directly from the horse’s mouth. The born-again startup is known for keeping an open line of communication with its growing fanbase of investors, Accelerator program reservation holders, and EV enthusiasts who want to see a company bring solar-powered vehicles to mass production.
The latest public update came in late February as Aptera’s co-CEOs teased its flagship vehicle’s upcoming app and battery tech while giving the viewers a glimpse of the three-wheeled EV’s Body in Carbon (BinC), which ended up on display at JEC World 2024 in Paris earlier this month.
As we’ve followed Aptera through its progress in reaching scaled production slotted to begin later this year, its founders have spoken quite candidly about the funding still required to achieve the milestone.
Even after achieving state grants and successfully raising $34 million in a crowdfunding Accelerator Program, Aptera still needs more liquidity to get its solar EV over the finish line and into the driveways of early adopters and beyond.
One solution to this lingering issue has always been the possibility of Aptera filing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Per video footage that recently surfaced, an IPO is still very much on the to-do list of Aptera’s co-CEOs, and these men have some big plans if and when such a milestone comes to fruition.
Aptera founders target IPO around start of SEV production
YouTube channel Free Power posted a video that shows Aptera co-CEOs discussing the possibility of an IPO and what that level of public funding could mean for the start of solar EV production and beyond.
We could not find the source for the video footage but were told by representatives from Aptera that Free Power leaked footage from an old exclusive investor-only webinar. We are unsure how dated this webinar footage is, but there are some interesting tidbits here that anyone rooting for Aptera’s success would be interested in hearing. Per Aptera co-CEO Chris Anthony:
We would love to tie an IPO to our production start. Obviously, once we start delivering vehicles, we think we’ll get a lot more notoriety, we’ll get a lot more pre-orders. It seems like a natural fit that if we can tie an IPO to our production start, that kind of maximizes the benefit of everything. It gives us growth capital to launch into other variants of the three-wheeler and possibly four-wheel vehicles, part of a whole future plan to get us to 150,000 units per year.
Fellow Aptera CEO Steve Fambro followed up with some wise words, stating that you’re constantly raising money in any business like this (startups especially). Aptera has done an excellent job of staying cost-conscious up to this point, but as mentioned, it has never shied away from the fact it will need more capital to realize its solar-powered dream.
An Aptera IPO feels like a natural next step. Anthony again spoke:
We aspire to deliver one million Aptera by 2033. So, sow do we do that? It’ll be a capital-intensive plan; it will require multiple factories, and an IPO can help us rally the capital to do that.
The closer Aptera gets to genuine scaled solar EV production, the more the public and other investors will notice, thus boosting its chances of getting that IPO and truly scaling to mass production.
Aptera is currently developing production-intent builds that will be used for validation and crash testing to ensure safety and has promised to share more details of its pending partner supply agreements once they are officially signed.
If you want to join the solar pack, reserve your Aptera EV today for $70 down.
Author: Scooter Doll
Source: Electrek
Top comment by Grant
Liked by 5 people
Aptera is a really cool concept. I hope they get it going and sell a ton of cars. But $34 million is like coffee money in this business, so they may need an IPO to make it all come to market.
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