Dear Damon shareholders, supporters, reservation holders and enthusiasts,
I am deeply grateful for your steadfast support and dedication over the past two and half years – a period that has proven challenging for us all. Your belief in our mission has been a cornerstone of our perseverance during a time when many early-stage startups struggled to survive. You deserve a transparent account of the journey we have endured together and an understanding of the hurdles that has led us to where we are now, starting with a roadmap of what we need to do to get to production.
Path To Production, Explained
Currently with 15 in-house engineers, we are leveraging a combination of our employees alongside key subcontractors and external experts to advance development. Late-stage engineering is mostly complete, with vehicle mechanics 90% finalized. Power electronics are also 90% complete, with ongoing validation and the integration of key features. Similarly, mechanical and cooling systems are 90% complete, while the battery system is 70% complete, with efforts focused on the development of the cell interconnect system.
With adequate funding, the project is expected to progress to the pre-production stage, starting with validation and design confirmation, where we'll aim to make a run of pre-production prototypes and test them against our design requirements and regulations to confirm the designs before we release to tooling. Ordering all the tools to make our first run of parts from will be the next big milestone, subject to our ability to raise sufficient capital to make this substantial investment. This pre-production phase has an estimated completion of late 2025. The Production & Commercialization Stage is expected to occur in parallel, focusing on the establishment of the final assembly and test facility at our HQ in San Rafael, CA, along with the development of distribution and delivery infrastructure. This stage is expected to conclude in 2026 and pending additional capital to achieve, serial production can then begin.
Commercial production is expected to commence after passing various internal and external tests and undergoing a self-certification process required for US-bound vehicle homologation. These tests include: the completion of Damon's ride quality and long-term durability testing, completion of FCC Title 47 certification for the onboard charger, completion of UN 38.3 battery testing, completion of Damon's internal battery testing, extreme temperature operation verification, brake testing per FMVSS, and an internal and external review of FMVSS compliance with our engineering subcontractor.
What Led Us Here
In the spring of 2022, Damon successfully raised a US$26M Series B financing, which marked the beginning of our efforts to raise a Series C round with the assistance of two major banks. This funding was intended to kickstart production. However, following the volatile SPAC era, the financial landscape shifted dramatically. The bursting of this bubble led to a severe downturn in the markets, and our efforts to secure a Series C production financing were unsuccessful. Despite these circumstances, the company was able to bridge itself with the support of various investors - enough to cover essential costs, having significantly reduced expenses across the board.
Navigating Funding Challenges
Since early 2022, inflation rates grew to reach 40-year highs, the highest level since 1981. Simultaneously. interest rates reached 20-year highs, rocking the financial markets and virtually wiping out risk capital for private companies, especially for pre-revenue startups in the capital-intensive automotive sector. Because of this, pre-revenue electric vehicle company valuations fell by an average 85%, and very few survived. Damon is an anomaly that persevered, despite how little risk capital had been available to fund the company's path to production. As previously noted, the company had undertaken multiple cost-cutting measures across all areas to navigate through these challenging past two years. These necessary reductions have regrettably led to significant delays. The journey has been far from easy, but these tough decisions were essential to ensure our continued operation and future success.
Nevertheless, we have persevered - a testament to everyone's faith and resilience when compared to many high-tech automotive startups that did not survive. And now that we are on the Nasdaq, the dream of reinventing motorcycling is far from over.
Going Public
After all this, it became evident that transitioning to the public markets was the best viable route to secure the necessary funding for production. In October 2023, we signed a merger agreement with Grafiti Holdings. Why did we choose Grafiti? It was the best merger partner we identified, possessing the ability to provide us with bridge financing and additional funding sources to help fund our Nasdaq preparation efforts and the benefit of no debt or liabilities.
During the 13-months it took to complete the merger and secure our Nasdaq listing, we faced what oftentimes seemed like insurmountable challenges. These included maintaining essential operations, keeping the remaining staff onboard, and managing increasing costs associated with going public. Additionally, we had to navigate the arduous, tax, audit and public listing requirements of both Canada and the US. These demands impacted our ability to fund production preparations, which are costly, thus extending our timeline to production.
Fast forward to now, and we achieved the goal of getting listed on the Nasdaq. Now, as a public company, we hope to gain access to the additional capital we need to fund our path to production. And this is why we need your continuing faith, your support and your confidence in us. Because we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
