Tesla Motors announced the completion of its $40 million Series C financing led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the largest CleanTech investors in Silicon Valley, and by Elon Musk, founder of Paypal and CEO of SpaceX. Other institutional investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson and JP Morgan Bay Area Equity Fund. Several individuals with strong interest in CleanTech investment also participated, including Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Nick Pritzker (through his investment partnership, Tao LLC), and Jeff Skoll (through his investment company, Capricorn Management LLC). The financing will be used to launch the company's first product, a high performance electric sportscar, and to support final safety compliance testing and production. The company also announced that Jim Marver, managing partner and co-founder of VantagePoint Venture Partners, will join Tesla's Board of Directors.
"We are pleased to have VantagePoint Venture Partners as one of our lead investors on this round because of their commitment to hands-on investing, particularly in CleanTech companies," said Martin Eberhard, CEO of Tesla Motors, "and we are proud of Mr. Musk's continued confidence in Tesla Motors expressed through his strong participation in every round of financing and his leadership on the Board of Directors."
"Tesla is driving change throughout the CleanTech sector in bringing to market real-world innovations for consumers. The company will be instrumental in transforming the way that consumers view CleanTech products -- they can now have style and speed -- and be good for the environment," said Jim Marver of VantagePoint Venture Partners.
"By leading the technology change from gasoline to electric vehicles, I believe Tesla has the potential to be one of the great car companies of the 21st century," said Elon Musk, Chairman of Tesla Motors. "The starting point is a high performance sportscar, but the long term vision is to build cars of all kinds, including low cost family vehicles. Tesla is one of those rare opportunities to change the world in a positive way and build a valuable company in the process."