Taiga, the electric snowmobile and personal watercraft maker, had a tough year, to say the least. In addition to laying folks off, the powersport company declared bankruptcy late into 2024 and its prospects for the future were bleak. Especially since when it had originally filed its financial results, it failed to include any forward-looking prospectus, as companies generally do.
Nothing good, nothing bad. Just, well, nothing. And then, the reality of the situation took hold as the company filed bankruptcy and went into quiet mode due to the ongoing legal hurdles to either disband the company completely or somehow save it. The latter wasn't on my personal bingo card, but it's become the route that Taiga's taken.
Yes, the company was bought by Vita Power, as well as a healthy investment from the Export Development Bank of Canada, and is eyeing its way back to the limelight with shipments beginning once again, and some seriously forward-looking statements. Hey, look, they're back!
There is, however, one looming issue I see with its statements and that's that Taiga wants to go public. Again. Isn't that a bad idea?
Let's start off with the who, what, where, and how. The who of the situation is that during its bankruptcy proceedings, Vita Power's Stewart Wilkinson, with the help of the Canadian government, saved the EV startup from going the way of the dodo. According to The Logic, Wilkinson invested around $15 million of his own money into the company, with a sizable portion coming from the EDB in order to keep the company going.
Wilkinson's own history with Vita Power, an EV boat maker out of the U.K., helped secure the deal as the two are very much playing in the same place, i.e. powersports and boating. Likewise, Taiga's executive team remains in place, with Samuel Bruneau, Paul Achard, and Gabriel Bernatchez returning. As such, with the investment and resuming operations, Taiga has already sent out new shipments of powersports machinery. One to dealerships and a fleet operator in Norway, and more to ski resorts in both France and Italy.
And by his own account, Wilkinson hopes to not only grow the powersports side of the business, i.e. continuing to offer both EV snowmobiles and PWCs, but also use Taiga's patented EV technology to sell "white-label" units to prospective clients such as companies like Mercury Marine or other boat engine manufacturers, though the former told RideApart it would not be discussing the matter with Taiga.
But while all of that sounds like good business strategy for making the company profitable, what doesn't is its plan to once again go public. Just why?
For those who haven't been following Taiga since its inception, the company went public via SPAC in 2021 and had an insane valuation of $500 million. For reference, Polaris is worth around $2.5 billion, while Can-Am's BRP is worth around $4.6 billion. But each of those has countless offerings for both land, sea, and snow, as well as actual sales histories and more. Taiga had almost none of that.
And, indeed, the original executives call their initial public offering a mistake, "When you try to drive hypergrowth, it’s inefficient at some point, compared to being a bit more cautious and trying to move super fast," said Samuel Bruneau. That said, none of them ever sold their shares. None of them made out like bandits while their employees suffered. But that leaves the question of why going public again, with the company targeting 2028.
Part of me understands this, as it's a flashy thing to do to both drive up demand and find new investors for a struggling brand. Especially one with such a niche market. But I wonder aloud if keeping the company private, keeping it in the hands of those involved, and keeping expectations relatively small would be the better path forward?
To their credit, Taiga's new and existing executives have cut their growth estimates by a considerable margin. They hope to only produce around 8,000 snowmobiles and PWCs by 2028, whereas previously their targets were a staggering 25,000 per year. The company is also down to just 40 people and is hoping a dealership-centric approach will lead it into the future. All of which is unclear, as the powersports industry continues to shrink, and snowfalls across the world decline thanks to global climate change. And, again, there's that going public issue.
So, for the moment, Taiga is back. But will it stick around this time? Only time will tell.
