DailyTech - Fisker Hopes to Raise $150 Million in New Round of Funding

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Auto Fisker Hopes to Raise $150 Million in New Round of Funding
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - August 17, 2012 9:11 AM

22 comment(s) - last by anactoraaron.. on Aug 18 at 9:30 AM

Fisker needs money to build next vehicle model

Fisker has been facing some significant issues over the last several weeks. One of the company's Karma hybrid vehicles burst into flames while sitting in a grocery store parking lot in California earlier this month. Fisker is currently investigating the cause of the fire and has so far eliminated the battery pack as a suspect. The company also recently appointed a new CEO.

Fisker is trying to put its Karma woes behind it and is looking to raise a significant amount of money to continue operations and to launch its second vehicle model. Fisker is seeking to raise $150 million according to a key investor. Since Fisker launched in 2007, the company has raised more than $1 billion in private funding.

Fisker had to begin thinking about raising money in other ways after it was denied a loan of $521 million from the government earlier this year. That particular loan was a key component of the automaker's business plan.

"We need money on our balance sheet [to fund operating expenses]", said Ray Lane, a Fisker director and a managing partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "And we need money to fund the development of the next car."

Fisker Atlantic

The company needs the additional $150 million to break even, and could seek additional funds from investors in 2013 according to Lane. It's unclear how much funding in total Fisker needs.

"We're raising some of that money now, and some later," he said.

Lane also noted that once the automaker is able to break even it could pursue other options, including an IPO or selling to an investor. Those decisions are expected to come in late 2013.

Some of the financial woes Fisker is facing now fall squarely on the shoulders of quality issues it has had with the Karma. The company's battery supplier A123 Systems was forced to replace millions of dollars worth of battery packs used inside the Karma due to defects.

Fisker's next car model is called the Atlantic. The company had planned to use the government loan it failed to receive to retool its plant to get ready to produce the Atlantic in 2013.

Source: Reuters

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LOL

By Cheesew1z69 on 8/17/2012 9:18:02 AM , Rating: 2

Good luck with that!

RE: LOL

By michael67 on 8/17/2012 9:19:35 AM , Rating: 2

Hey maybe http://www.kickstarter.com/ will work ^_^

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RE: LOL

By MrBlastman on 8/17/2012 12:38:10 PM , Rating: 2

Scratch that. Make that www.firestarter.com -- where your money burns!

// I have no idea if that is a real site or not and is purely for humorous purposes. Any resemblance to real names, places or identities is purely coincidental.

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RE: LOL

By kattanna on 8/17/2012 10:02:28 AM , Rating: 3

quote:
"We need money on our balance sheet [to fund operating expenses]"

quote:
The company needs the additional $150 million to break even

so they are out of cash and need $150 million to break even to keep the lights on?

WOW.. most companies usually just sell a product that people want to buy to "break even"

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RE: LOL

By TSS on 8/17/2012 10:15:55 AM , Rating: 5

Most companies aren't government supported.

And by that i don't mean just money. I mean that once the government supports a company via loan or subsidy, it now can no longer fail or it will cause bad PR for the government. So the government will send more and more money to keep things afloat (though as shown with the failures recently there is a limit to this model). Bad PR matters to them, since they're central planners. And if anything fails that's centrally planned then it pulls into question everything else that's been centrally planned. As such, it won't be allowed to fail, even if it's a ponzi scheme.

With Fisker the government pulled out, prematurely collapsing the ponzi scheme (AKA no government money to pay off the first investors). So now their looking for $150 million worth of pidgeons to pay off the previous ~$140 million worth of pidgeons.

I really wonder if they'll get it. Are there people, with millions of money, so monumentally stupid that they'll invest in a company *even* the government pulled out of? We shall see.....

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RE: LOL

By Reclaimer77 on 8/17/2012 11:42:30 AM , Rating: 2

Damn TSS that was a really great post. You said it all.

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RE: LOL

By RufusM on 8/17/2012 12:30:29 PM , Rating: 2

It's my understanding that Fiskar DID get either a large loan from the US Department of Energy before the DoE cancelled the loan program amidst the Solyndra scandal and bad PR.

I cannot find information anywhere that Fiskar didn't get one of those loans or at least a partial DoE loan.

Anyone in the know on this?

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RE: LOL

By RufusM on 8/17/2012 12:46:32 PM , Rating: 2

I've found it here on DT!

http://www.dailytech.com/Fisker+Says+Loss+of+DOE+L...

Fiskar received $193M in the DoE loan then the DoE pulled the money train away due to lack of progress. Subequently the DoE pulled the $25B program all together after virtually every company receiving the loans was going under or downsizing.

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RE: LOL

By Ringold on 8/17/2012 6:32:50 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
I really wonder if they'll get it. Are there people, with millions of money, so monumentally stupid that they'll invest in a company *even* the government pulled out of? We shall see.....

If they don't, and the business comes apart, the government apologists will come out and blame the weak economy on a lack of money being available for investment (and by extension, it's Bush's fault). But of course they'll be ignoring the fact that businesses are sitting on records amount of cash reserves, largely because they have no certainty about the direction of taxes and the regulatory regime.

Interesting fact: Unilever on July 31st set a record for corporate debt, raising 3 and 5 year debt, with the 5 year notes trading at a .83% interest rate if memory serves. Less than 1% for millions of dollars loaned for FIVE YEARS.

So, if Fisker has even a remotely decent chance of making money, there is so much money floating around out there that people are giving it away and less than the rate of inflation. Their failure is no one elses fault but their own.

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RE: LOL

By BZDTemp on 8/17/2012 6:31:17 PM , Rating: 2

Why the hate?

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They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By Arsynic on 8/17/2012 11:21:35 AM , Rating: 5

So they'll get a piece of his $1.6 trillion "Destroy America" stimulus.

RE: They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By anactoraaron on 8/17/2012 6:16:06 PM , Rating: 1

Yeah Obama can make that happen. All he has to do is say it and it's done. Tell me why exactly we have a legislative branch of government again?

Better yet, if Mr. Romney wins Fisker will get all of those job creating tax cuts to fix their debt problems so they can create more jobs. /s

One guy and his ideas can't possibly fix the mess we are in. Maybe ending lobbying will help, but neither party will ever suggest that. It's how they get paid/elected.

Every time those douchebags (dem or rep) in congress come up with these asinine policies/laws we all blame ONE GUY. Are we all that stupid? Well with a "5" I guess so. (let the flaming to -1 here commence)

I wouldn't doubt that the first loan they got cost about 10% of the loan amount in lobbying. That's a good return there. See why blaming one guy is ridiculous?

Now if you said something like "they better hope dems retain control of congress" it would have made more sense.

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RE: They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By Ringold on 8/17/2012 6:39:43 PM , Rating: 2

Lets say there is a Navy vessel. Captain is in bed, sleeping, as humans occasionally must do.

Bridge crew messes up. Rams a fishing boat. People die.

Result? Captain (usually) gets fired.

Lets say Captain's on the bridge, but nothing at all improper is done, but a mishap still takes place. He's probably still fired, depending on how public it was.

As Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here." Responsibility has to be laid at someones feet. People at the top get/take all the glory when things go well, and they catch hell when it goes wrong.

Of course, congress has its role; their approval rating isn't very good, and pretty much all Republican's know it's not just Obama but Pelosi and Reid that are problems as well. But again, the buck has to stop somewhere.

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RE: They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By anactoraaron on 8/17/2012 9:47:07 PM , Rating: 2

You are comparing apples to androids. The president can not discipline any of his crew or just completely remove the bad seeds or take any other action to stop the crew from "messing up". He also can't take away pay (or lobbying funds) that may put a slight dent in the mistakes. That simply isn't a valid comparison. 99.999% of all the Fuct up things that have happened in this country have been from the ship's crew - Obamacare, the bailout, and I can go on and on. Replacing the man you think is "the captain" has had absolutely ZERO impact on where this sinking ship is still heading.

And to Reclaimer: this also applies to Mr. Bush. He isn't responsible in my mind for the wars, bank bailout, economic collapse, housing collapse, etc.

And the understatement of your post:

quote:
Of course, congress has its role; their approval rating isn't very good

15% approval rating. That's within a margin of error (to me) to just as well say 0% approval rating.

Side note: I take offense at comparing the people who defend our great nation with the jerkoffs running it.

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RE: They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By Reclaimer77 on 8/17/2012 10:00:33 PM , Rating: 2

Huh?? Ultimately it's the President who can sign or veto his "crews" bills.

quote:
And to Reclaimer: this also applies to Mr. Bush. He isn't responsible in my mind for the wars, bank bailout, economic collapse, housing collapse, etc.

Word. Good man.

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RE: They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By anactoraaron on 8/18/2012 9:30:12 AM , Rating: 3

Congress can override vetos, although it doesn't happen often (mutiny! lol). Politicians are mainly concerned with political fallout, and there would be a firestorm if a dem president went against what was viewed as a dem bill by vetoing it. Same for rep presidents. The other side would use it as 'ammo' for next campaign season, no matter if it was best for Americans or not. Sad that this is a priority for both sides...

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RE: They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By Reclaimer77 on 8/17/2012 7:31:02 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
One guy and his ideas can't possibly fix the mess we are in.

Please tell me exactly what evidence you've seen that Obama wants to "fix" any mess? He's done nothing but create messes and make existing ones worst!

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RE: They Better Hope Obama Wins...

By anactoraaron on 8/17/2012 9:37:28 PM , Rating: 2

Why oh why must I be labeled an Obama supporter? I am not a Democrat!

You want to know my party affiliation? American.

Read my post again.

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They might find an "angel"?

By Beenthere on 8/17/2012 9:27:14 AM , Rating: 3

I personally would not invest in this company.

Fiscally responsible

By mchentz on 8/17/2012 10:22:55 AM , Rating: 2

every time I hear of the company they are having money issues. This company sounds like a bad investment. Heck its not even public yet and they have secured 1 billion + in loans and need yet more to make a car to appeal to the public?

If you want only rich people to buy your product don't ask for my help so you can sell to the very wealthy.