Tesla Motors Charged Up with $40 Million Investment by VantagePoint Venture Partners and Elon Musk
All systems are go for Tesla Motors. Last month the high-performance electric car company secured $40 million Series C financing led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the largest CleanTech investors in Silicon Valley, and by Elon Musk, co-founder of Paypal and founder and CEO of SpaceX. Other institutional investors included Draper Fisher Jurvetson and JP Morgan Bay Area Equity Fund. Several individuals with strong interest in CleanTech investment also participated, including Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Nick Pritzker (through his investment partnership, Tao LLC), and Jeff Skoll (through his investment company, Capricorn Management LLC). The financing is already being used to launch the company's first product, the Tesla Roadster, and to support final safety compliance testing and production.
"We are pleased to have VantagePoint Venture Partners as one of our lead investors on this round because of their commitment to hands-on investing, particularly in CleanTech companies," said Martin Eberhard, CEO of Tesla Motors, "and we are proud of Mr. Musk's continued confidence in Tesla Motors expressed through his strong participation in every round of financing and his leadership on the Board of Directors."
Jim Marver of VantagePoint Venture Partners, who joined Tesla Motors's Board of Directors added, "Tesla Motors is driving change throughout the CleanTech sector in bringing to market real-world innovations for consumers. The company will be instrumental in transforming the way that consumers view CleanTech products - products that can now have style and speed while being good for the environment."
Musk, the Chairman of Tesla Motors, agreed: "By leading the technology change from gasoline to electric vehicles, I believe Tesla Motors has the potential to be one of the great car companies of the 21st century. The starting point is a high-performance sportscar, but the long-term vision is to build cars of all kinds, including low-cost family vehicles. Tesla Motors is one of those rare opportunities to change the world in a positive way and build a valuable company in the process."
Tesla Motors Fact Sheet
| Name: | Tesla Motors | ||||
| Address: | 1050 Bing Street | ||||
| Telephone: | 650.413.4000 | ||||
| Web site: | www.teslamotors.com | ||||
| Founded: | July 1, 2003 | ||||
| Employees: | over 80 (as of July 19, 2006) | ||||
| Products: | Tesla Roadster (launch date: mid-2007) | ||||
| Facilities: | Research & Development | San Carlos, Calif. and Hethel, UK |
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| Motor facility | Taipei, Taiwan | ||||
| Assembly | Hethel, U.K | ||||
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| Management team: | CEO | Martin Eberhard |
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| VP, Engineering, CFO | Marc Tarpenning | ||||
| Chief Technical Officer | JB Straubel | ||||
| VP, Vehicle Integration | Malcolm Powell | ||||
| VP, Sales & Distribution | Gretchen Joyce | ||||
| VP, Customer Service & Support | Mike Harrigan | ||||
| VP, Vehicle Engineering | Malcolm Smith | ||||
| VP, Manufacturing | Tom Colson | ||||
| VP, Advanced Mfg. Projects | Ron Lloyd | ||||
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| Board of Directors: | Elon Musk, Chairman | ||||
| Mission Statement: | Tesla Motors designs and will sell high-performance, highly efficient electric sportscars — with no compromises. Tesla cars combine style, acceleration, and handling with advanced technologies that make them among the quickest and at the same time the most energy-efficient cars on the road. | ||||
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