We're just over two months from the end of 2024 now, and so far, it's been a year that many in the EV motorcycle space would probably rather forget.
From Cake to Energica to LiveWire's ongoing struggles, the outlook has been far from the sunny optimism that accompanies just about every EV startup's first model announcements. And that's all without even delving into Damon!
But the thing is, even in such a comparatively young space (technologically speaking), there are still the folks who got there early. If you've been paying even a small amount of attention to EV motorcycles, you may already be asking where Zero is in this list. That's easy; they're not on it.
The California company has now been around for 18 years. And while things haven't always gone smoothly (when do they ever?), it's managed to both make motorcycles and deliver them to customers over that time. That's more than a lot of startups end up doing, unfortunately.
Furthermore, it's managed to come out with new models in new segments, as well as improved motors, improved batteries, and a host of other forward movement over those 18 years. You know, all the things you want to see from a motorcycle maker, electric or otherwise.
There are criticisms to be made, sure, but it's difficult to deny that Zero has been a relatively stable backbone of the industry for some time now.
In recent years, it partnered with Polaris to start putting its powertrains into side-by-sides; namely, the Ranger. And broadening its scope in geography as well as the number of wheels on vehicles using its powertrains, Zero also partnered with the absolutely massive Indian powersports company, Hero MotoCorp.
That was then, though. And as far too many of us are aware, unless you're independently wealthy, the not-so-funny thing about money is that we all have a habit of needing more of it. We like to spend it on silly things like eating, paying bills, and maybe a few bike parts here and there (silly us).
So, although Hero invested $60M into Zero in 2022, it's been two years. And now, according to a new US Securities and Exchange (SEC) filing first reported on by Tech Crunch, Zero Motorcycles is currently in the process of raising nearly $121M.
To do this, Zero filed Form D with the SEC. For those of us who aren't seasoned finance types, an SEC Form D is "a short notice detailing basic information about the company for investors in the new issuance," according to Investopedia. This form is required to be filed within 15 days of a company first offering a sale of securities.
It's filed under SEC Regulation D, which allows specific exemptions for small companies so that they don't need to register the securities with the SEC. And according to Zero's Form D filing, it's claiming an exemption under Rule 506, which means that it "can raise an unlimited amount of capital in offerings."
Regulation D also makes certain stipulations about the types of investors allowed; namely, that an unlimited number of accredited investors can participate, but that only up to 35 non-accredited (but "sophisticated") investors are allowed. The primary goal of this regulation is to make it easier for smaller companies that can't necessarily do a full registered public offering to raise funds.
In total, Zero's Form D states that it's seeking to raise $120,622,936. At the time of filing, it had already sold $100,182,316 in securities, so right now it only needs around $20.5M more to hit its fundraising goal. And since the filing date of this form is now in the past, it's possible that it's already hit that mark at the time of writing.
What will these funds be used for? Stay tuned.
