Another EV Startup to Go Public As Canoo Merges With Blank-check Firm

Canoo Holdings Ltd., creator of highly configurable electric vehicles built atop its proprietary “skateboard” platform, plans to merge with a blank-check firm in order to seek investor cash. If past examples of EV startups going public are any indication, Canoo will soon be valued at eleventy bazillion dollars, give or take a few bucks.

On Tuesday, the company announced a tie-up with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. IV, a special purpose acquisition company, in order to get itself a listing on the Nasdaq.

Once formalized, the merger will see the startup gain the name Canoo Inc, with its Nasdaq listing appearing as “CNOO.”

Valued at $2.4 billion after all the papers are signed, Canoo expects the initial share offering to rake in $600 million — proceeds that are necessary to get its vehicles into production. Already, the company has partnered with Hyundai to co-develop an electric vehicle platform for that automaker.

Canoo’s skateboard architecture is said to be the slimmest in the industry, incorporating a steer-by-wire system and capable of carrying any number of bodystyles atop it. The company envisions vehicles boasting loft-like interior space for the purpose of carrying passengers or consumer goods for household deliveries.

“Today marks an important milestone of Canoo’s effort to reinvent the development, production and go-to-market model of the electric vehicle industry,” said Canoo CEO Ulrich Kranz in a statement. “Our technology allows for rapid and cost-effective vehicle development through the world’s flattest skateboard architecture, and we believe our subscription model will transform the consumer ownership experience.”

Currently, Canoo is testing a subscription-only electric van that appears to have driven out of a 1930s Central European futurist’s dreams.

[Images: Canoo]