The chief technology officer of electric vehicle startup Canoo, Sohel Merchant, has left the company, two people familiar with his departure told TechCrunch.
Merchant was a member of the founding team of Canoo, which launched the startup in late 2017. His departure from the company means that only one of the founding team members remains — chief engineer Christoph Kuttner.
Kanu did not respond to a request for comment, and Merchant declined to comment.
The split comes as Canoo is undergoing a major reorganization. The startup is closing its Los Angeles headquarters and asking most of the roughly 200 employees who work there to move to either Texas (where Canoo has a head office) or Oklahoma (where it’s trying to set up a manufacturing facility).
The company has been in a constant state of reshaping itself since going public in late 2020 as part of a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Shortly after that, Chairman Tony Aquila took over as CEO, and Canoo moved away from its plan to sell its electric truck to the general public. Instead, it began targeting the commercial electric vehicle space.
Aquila’s plans for Canoo have changed in the years since he took over the company. He announced in late 2021 that mobile The company’s headquarters are located in Los Angeles, in Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Walmart – which Cano was looking to as a top-tier customer.
Walmart eventually signed a deal with Canoo in 2022, but it was Very low risk No significant shipments of vehicles have been made as part of the deal yet. The move to Bentonville hasn’t really happened either. Meanwhile, Canoo has set its sights on Oklahoma, where Aquila has announced plans to build a massive manufacturing facility that hasn’t been built yet. The company is currently testing vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service, NASA and the Department of Defense, but it’s tight on cash. Last week, it announced plans to build a massive manufacturing facility that hasn’t been built yet. Reported With just $19.1 million as of June 30.
Canoo has steadily lost nearly its entire founding team over that period. Co-founder and former CEO Stefan Kraus Leave The company in 2020. He was succeeded by co-founder Ulrich Kranz, to resign In 2021, he spent a few years working on Apple’s secret EV project. Another key co-founder, chief designer Richard Kim, Leave In 2023.