Is French startup Hopium (already) down? We are not there yet, but the latest results released by the manufacturer are quite alarming. Indeed, the company that pitched itself as the Tesla of hydrogen with its Machina sedan, is facing several financial difficulties.
However, the story started quite well, at least on the front, with the presentation of a wonderful concept at the last Paris Motor Show in October. A few months later, reality seems to have caught up with the French startup.
Hopium presents its new state-of-the-art technology: a #hydrogen capable of meeting the highest requirements for compactness, durability and performance. https://t.co/X7kNZRq8qk pic.twitter.com/geFlk2d5xp
— Hopium (@hopiumofficial) April 6, 2023
Hopi in red
” Operating expenses for the year were €24.9m compared to €9.4m in 2021, mainly due to a sharp increase in personnel costs related to the hiring of 116 employees in 2022, according to a Hopium press release.
Thus, a loss of €23.9 million (compared to €8 million in 2021) forced Hopium to post a negative equity (-€10.4 million). Its cash position as of December 31, 2022 was -1.3 million euros. Since the beginning of the year Therefore, Hopium had to part with 35 of its employees by mutual consent.
More worryingly, after several capital increases in 2022 totaling €4.1 million, Hopium conditioned the continuation of its activity on obtaining additional fundsin particular ” grant within the framework of the “France 2030 Auto Invest” project competition.“. In other words, without additional funds, the activity cannot continue.
An ex-minister who is on the run
It will be recalled that the company was headed by the former Minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Jebbari until mid-March, but he quickly left the ship, perhaps sensing a change in the wind. Asked by AFP, Jean-Baptiste Jebbari explained that this was the case “new projects are being structured” and that he wanted to be there “dedicate fully”.
In its press release, Hopium clarifies this “The company hopes to launch pre-sales of its battery system as early as 2024 in parallel with industrialization”before entering the market in 2025.
A few weeks ago, Hopium announced that it would focus on the development of its fuel cell technology, postponing his commercialization project for Machina. Good news, the project is not abandoned. The worst part is that there is no longer a timetable for the release of the vehicle, originally planned for 2025.
Source: Auto Plus
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