Fisker raises $100m in Series E round amidst growing pains, seeks market expansion into the Middle East and China.
US-based automaker Fisker Automotive has secured $100m in funding in a Series E round, bringing it’s total equity raised to $1.2bn.
The latest Series opened in mid August and aims to raise $150m for the 5 year old automaker, which delivered it’s first vehicle to customers in December of last year.
As with previous rounds, Fisker Automotive declined to disclose the identity of it’s investors. However previous contributors included venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, and Palo Alto Investors, investment bank Advanced Equities, alternative energy company Quantum Fuel Technologies, investment firm real estate company Ace Investments, Qatari government-backed Qatar Investment Authority and A123 Systems, a battery manufacturer and parts supplier to Fisker Automotive.
The company has also taken out a $193m loan with the US Department of Energy.
The California based company currently manufactures and sells a luxury plug in hybrid sedan dubbed the Karma. The vehicle relies on electric motors fed by a battery unit for propulsion with an additional gasoline generator acting as a range extender.
In a statement the company said that it: “expects to continue to utilize equity financing to support its business plan that combines continued sales of its inaugural Karma model with market expansion into the key Middle East and China markets, along with further development work on its second production model, the mid-size Atlantic sedan,”
However Fisker is currently facing several challenges. This February the company revealed that the US Department of Energy revoked a $529m loan, from which Fisker had already drawn $193m, citing “unmet milestones”. The cancellation forced Fisker to lay off part of its workforce and temporarily suspend assembly at its factory.
Additionally, the Karma itself has been subject to recalls last month after several examples spontaneously caught fire.
