Canoo, once a promising startup with a unique electric vehicle and orders from the likes of the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Defense, has filed for bankruptcy and ceased all operations.
The company announced it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Jan. 17 in a court in Delaware. This will result in a court-appointed trustee overseeing the sale of any remaining assets to pay off creditors.
Canoo unveiled its first vehicle, the LDV van, five years ago and went public a year later, raising an estimated $600 million in the process. However, despite receiving orders for thousands of vehicles, a high cash burn rate left the company struggling to fill those orders.
In a statement, the company said efforts to raise additional funding through the Department of Energy’s loan program and foreign investors were unsuccessful, forcing it to file for bankruptcy.
Canoo lineup
As first reported by Tech Crunch, Canoo’s bankruptcy filing reveals the company owes approximately $164 million to creditors while holding assets valued at $126 million.
The bankruptcy filing comes just weeks after Canoo furloughed its remaining employees and halted operations at its Oklahoma factory. Last March, the company also acquired the assets of another failed EV startup, Arrival. At the time, Canoo claimed to have purchased the assets at an 80% discount.
Canoo was founded in 2018 by several former executives of Faraday Future, another struggling EV startup that continues to operate despite having delivered only a handful of vehicles. Canoo initially planned to focus on the retail market but later shifted its strategy to prioritize commercial customers. The company also planned to follow up its van with a pickup truck and a larger delivery van.
