#50 (EN): Crowdfunding, Community Meet-Up, Time-Lapse
Have a nice Sunday. I'm sure no one was waiting for Thursday's news - new crowdfunding. We try to shed light into the chaos of news that emerged.
+++ FOREWORD BY ASTI +++
Together with the admin team, I would like to thank the entire Sono staff for the impressive commitment that is currently being shown. Everyone is working overtime besides their normal work for phone services, roadshows, events to answer all your questions.
We met - without exception - convinced and motivated employees who fight for the Sion. Including regular earning people making full downpayments out of conviction.
+++ PLAN B +++
Sono is doing another crowdfunding campaign and aims to collect about 100 million via new reservations and top-ups. That equates to about 3,500 fully-paid Sions. Like last time, pledges will be collected in step one. Money is only collected if successful.
https://sonomotors.com/de/financial-transparency/
What's gone down a bit is that Sono raised 30 million from Yorkville at the start of the campaign (they don't count towards the 100 million). That's just not enough for the big investments that are coming up now. That's why they're turning to reservers again.
For many reservers this is their first crowdfunding campaign, others have been through it before. Last time, Sono would have been broke if it didn't work out and all funds would have been lost. This time, we have a real choice: If the target amount is not raised, Sono will try to give all previous reservers their money back. And then continue - with a significantly reduced team and significantly reduced costs - to make the solar business a success. It is not certain that this will work out, but the account balance of 55 million should give cause for confidence. The goal is, of course, to continue with the Sion. Currently, about 7 million in commitments have been received after three days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTD5QdAzRFM&t=78s
+++ COMMUNITY MEETUP: MUNICH +++
As part of the campaign, Sono is planning a major tour across Germany. Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The tour started yesterday in Munich including the opportunity to stop by Bertrandt.
Munich Meetup Setup
About 100 people were in the Waldmeisterstraße, five Sions were on site, some ready to drive, as well as the solar trailer.
Questions were plentiful and there could certainly have been more, but after two hours, at least online, it was over. Torsten, Laurin, Jona and many others patiently answered more questions. We - Asti, Andreas and I, left the location around 23:30, so that the Sebnews could come as usual and the Sonos could call it a day.
Here you can find the video of the live event.
There was a lot of "shop talk" at the SVC3, surprisingly not only about money. In many cases, the state of development was the topic. Solar integration, interior design, bidi, loading sill, ... Once again, you could see how committed the Sono team is - all of them. From the technician to the finance department to Laurin and Jona, there were many exciting conversations to listen to and have.
One question that was also asked was from existing full payers. The new discounts have caused them to overpay, as they automatically get the highest discount level. This is being worked on, it will take time. I can only recommend everyone to stop by directly, at the office or at the roadshow events. Here are the dates:
https://sonomotors.com/de/events/
+++ INFOTAINMENT +++
After all the loud news, we must not forget the quiet, considered voices. Johannes from the infotainment team explains topics on data protection, security and operating concepts. Nice, quiet video, if the background music wasn't so loud again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucTQEwlhDTk
+++ AGM +++
The tour is for reservation holders. There is also a general meeting for shareholders, but it is rather formal. Two points stand out:
The supervisory board is strengthened and gets a new member - Arnd. Some have speculated why he is coming now. The reason is easily explained: new Supervisory Board members must be appointed by the Annual General Meeting.
The company seeks the right to do a "reverse split" if the share price falls below 1 dollar. This does not mean that it will be done right away. It enables it to be done as far as I have understood it. The reason is, if you fall below a dollar for 30 days in a row, you are warned, after 6 months you are kicked out. The reason is that with "pennystocks" even the smallest movements make big margins, 10 cents up or down is already 10%.
Important: the blog is about the Sion and the reservations, the information about the AGM is only in here because it belongs to the complete picture.
https://ir.sonomotors.com/static-files/488e02e0-11f0-4ef2-b137-87cf83601205
+++ COMMUNITY CREW +++
After the last crowdfunding campaign in 2020, the Community Advisory Board was created, and so far I would call that a successful model. Since the IPO, the reservator funds have always been quite safe. Sono highlighted again on the tour the current liquid funds, as of today - 55 million.
If the campaign is successful, we as a community will have paid in over 100 million, and Sono will use this to build up manufacturing. So the funds - until new capital is raised - are used to prepare for production and are no longer all there.
I don't want a third community tour to raise money, the next event should be the presentation of the first production Sion from Valmet. I would like to go into rule exchange with some of you from the community, as another control shift so we don't miss anything.
An idea to start would be a monthly joint community call via Skype/Teams/Zoom to start, and then we plan from there. Feel free to write me if you want to join. The best way is by email with the keyword "community advisory board".
+++ SALARY +++
This week, a salary discussion arose after the campaign was published, caused by the publication of a screenshot with salary and bonus payments to the board members from the year 2021. This has been on the web for ages, e.g. at ir.sonomotors.com in the Sec Filings.
This triggered heated discussions in some cases. The topic has now also made it into the Business Insider, where it is considered quite well. Conclusion here: The salaries and the one-time bonus payment are justified in their amount.
Excerpt from Business Insider: "In the current year 2022, the base salary remained unchanged at 4,416.67 euros per month. Accordingly, there were no bonus payments. The bottom line is that Hahn's annual salary thus amounts to around 53,000 euros.By comparison, many a founder pays himself six-figure salaries, as this analysis shows." So as so often with our heart start-up. Unfortunate communication, but everything is half as bad.
+++ PRESS+++
Sono Motors has made national headlines with its renewed collection campaign. Spiegel, Handelsblatt, RTL.
In some media there are incorrect statements. For example, it is not true that full payers move up in the order.
"Sono Motors Sion future unclear (German)”:"
Solar car is already again on the brink of extinction
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/sono-sion-solarauto-pleite-crowdfunding-1.5712080
https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/sono-motors-geht-geld-fuer-solarauto-projekt-aus-a-6a9eb3b0-f3ba-4aac-be2b-c12f27fa4065
Solar EVs in Question.
https://www.teslarati.com/the-future-of-solar-evs-is-called-into-question/
+++ PRO / CONTRA +++
To all who would like to read along here, we would like to say - decide for yourself. The money can be partially or even completely gone, the project can still fail completely. This is not a call to reserve or top up.
But: the situation is different than in 2019: Sono is in a better position than in the last campaign, the car is much further and a real in-house development, the team is much more professional. The Sion has become a real car, Sono is an OEM, the contract manufacturer is at the start. We're over 21,000 reservers instead of 10,000. I've fully ramped up because I decided for me - I want this car.
The column is for everyone - reservers and non-reservers. We'll continue the column until the Sion arrives - or Sono fails. We help where we can, we stand behind the project. It remains exciting.
+++ FUN FACT +++
Fun fact is of course difficult at this time. The "we failed" campaign naturally also has an effect on the many engineers at Sono - who have definitely made quite a bit and naturally want to show that off. We'll probably get our time-lapse video of solar charging! So from the panels to the battery.
December is the darkest time of the year, it's sub-zero in Munich, I'm not fool myself. It won't be a record result, that's not the point. The point is to show that the car is charging throughout the day. And hopefully it will also show what the panels on the side add in value. The sun is very flat, so that should have an effect.
Have a nice week, stay healthy - the rest will be found.
Sebastian, Astrid, Andreas and Wolfgang.
Late-Night: Creating the Sunday Sono News right after yesterdays event
From left to right: Sebastian, Asti, Andrea