Uniti
The crowdfunding approach for capital sourcing seems
to be the new black where alternative fuel automotive start-ups are concerned.
Last month, German company Sono Motors announced that its crowdfunding exercise
had gone very well, the start-up having exceeded its goal of raising 150,000
euros for the initial phase of developing its Sion electric car.
Now, it’s the turn of Uniti to go the same route.
Sweden’s first urban electric car outfit – which began as an open innovation
research project at Lund University – has launched its global equity
crowdfunding round on FundedByMe, with a goal to raise 500.000 euros for a 5.1% ownership in the company.
It said it reached 63% of its investment goal from
68 crowd investors in the first four hours after launching it to the public.
The Uniti crowdfunding campaign is set to run until November 15, and the
initial funding raised will allow the company to build a production-ready
prototype, which is scheduled for 2017.
The Uniti is a two-seater EV tagges as a premium
short range city car. It’ll be powered by a 15 kW motor juiced by an 11 kWh
Na-Ion battery, chargeable via induction or plug-in means. The 400 kg offering
will offer an operating range of 150 km and have a 90 km/h top speed, but its
makers say it will be super sporty and offer an ‘unusual’ driving experience.
Designed for autonomy, the company says that the
Uniti will be constructed predominantly from biomaterials. Eventual market
pricing for the car is targeted to be around 200,000 Swedish krona.
