Volta Trucks bankruptcy was tough for me to watch
"The uncertainty with our battery supplier also negatively affected our ability to raise sufficient capital in an already challenging capital-raising environment for electric vehicle players."
Ugh. I have to admit the collape of Volta Trucks this morning caught me by surprise, and it kinda hurt.
See, I have a little history with Volta Trucks as just under 3 years ago they gave me my first social media influencer gig.
This started a whole new revenue stream for Vision Mobility that I hadn't really considered.
As well, I was confident in talking about it as the product was so well thought through.
Plus, it looked great, thanks to the penmanship of Carsten Astheimer
Unfortunately, the bankruptcy vortex of their battery supplier Proterra Inc pulled them under, which is a real shame.
Undoubtedly though they were very likely thin on cash before the Proterra went pear 🍐 shaped.
In hindsight, there's a couple learnings to be had:
1) Having two suppliers would have minimized supply chain interruptions and financial damage
2) Great product, huge market opportunity and tons of order aren't the only things needed for success.
3) Another might be grow conservatively and make sure to have money spare for a rainy day.
It feels like a huge opportunity here to buy the assets out of bankruptcy, pick up the pieces and keep going.
Though, I think the buyer should find a new battery supplier.
There's also a pretty big learning for me too - you never quite know where your next opportunity might turn up and how a small gig might actually change your career for the better.
Thanks to Ade Thomas for sending, as well as the many Volta related discussions we've had.
Shout out to people I know there like Duncan Forrester and others.
Have you seen it where a very promising company has gone under due to circumstances beyond their control? What do you think Volta should have done differently? What do you think will happen now?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below
#automotive #batteries #climatechange #electricvehicles #innovation #sustainability
Former PE Investor & CEO // Current PE Advisor // Author // 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘗𝘌-𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯
6moCongrats on the close! Looks like an exciting deal. Here's to "winning the first 100" https://digital.dancremons.com/ap-first-100-landing