The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 2020–2025
Canoo went public via SPAC, got a NASA contract, and still went bankrupt
Canoo merged with a SPAC in 2020 at $2.4B. It got a NASA vehicle contract and a Walmart pre-order. It filed Chapter 7 in January 2025 with $0 in revenue.
Canoo · Henrik Fisker · 2025-01
What happened
Canoo, co-founded by former BMW and Faraday Future executives in 2017, designed a modular electric vehicle platform — a 'skateboard' chassis that could support different body types. In December 2020, Canoo went public via a SPAC merger at a $2.4 billion valuation, despite having no revenue and no production vehicles.
Canoo attracted high-profile partnerships: NASA ordered a crew transport vehicle for the Artemis program, Walmart pre-ordered 4,500 delivery vans, and the US Army tested a Canoo-based vehicle. But the company could not convert partnerships into production. Manufacturing was delayed repeatedly, and cash burn was relentless.
Canoo's stock fell from $30 to under $0.10. In January 2025, Canoo filed for Chapter 7 liquidation — not reorganization, but complete dissolution. The company had approximately $0 in vehicle revenue. The $2.4 billion SPAC valuation, the NASA contract, and the Walmart pre-order all amounted to nothing. Canoo is the purest example of the SPAC-era EV bubble: a company valued in billions that never sold a single vehicle.
Why it happened
- The $2.4B SPAC valuation was based on a concept, not a product — Canoo had no revenue, no production, and no path to either at the time of the merger.
- High-profile partnerships (NASA, Walmart, US Army) created the appearance of validation without the reality of purchase orders with delivery dates.
- The company burned cash on multiple vehicle programs simultaneously without completing any of them.
- Chapter 7 (liquidation) rather than Chapter 11 (reorganization) means there was nothing left to reorganize — the company had no assets of value.
The lesson
A NASA contract is not a revenue stream. Canoo had NASA, Walmart, and the Army — and $0 in revenue. Partnerships are press releases, not purchase orders.
Aftermath
Canoo filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in January 2025. The company's assets were sold for scrap value. The Canoo case, alongside Lordstown, Fisker Inc., and Proterra, is cited as evidence that the 2020–2021 SPAC bubble funded EV companies that had no manufacturing capability and no path to revenue.
Sources
- Canoo — Wikipedia (founded 2017; SPAC merger December 2020 at $2.4B; NASA crew transport contract; Walmart 4,500 van pre-order; stock $30 to under $0.10; Chapter 7 filed January 2025; $0 vehicle revenue)
- SEC EDGAR — Canoo Inc. Form 8-K: Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing (17 January 2025; filed in US Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware; Chapter 7 trustee to take control; assets to be liquidated)
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
GrubMarket showed investors revenue 130% too high and raised $19M on it
Synapse's banking middleware lost track of whose money was whose — then it went bankrupt
Lucid was worth $90B on paper — and sold fewer cars in a year than Tesla sells in a day
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.