Investors: Since it's initial investing round in 2004, Tesla Motors has brought on board a wide array of investors and more than $105 million in funding. Investors include Compass Technology Partners, Valor Equity Partners, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page, former eBay President Jeff Skoll, Hyatt heir Nick Pritzker and added the VC firms Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson, Capricorn Management and The Bay Area Equity Fund Managed by JP Morgan. In the meantime, Tesla Board Chairman and former payPal president Elon Musk, has contributed $37 million of his own money.
IPO?: Chairman Musk said recently at The Indus Entrepreneur Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., that he plans to take the company public by the end of 2008, adding that he will raise another series of financing beforehand in order to bring the company to profitability and to begin production on a luxury sedan. He said he expects an IPO to raise roughly $100 million.
Products: Just one — the two-seat, all-electric Tesla Roadster at $109,000, which became available for purchase earlier this month.
New Products: The company is reportedly working on electric sedan priced in the $50,000 - $70,000 range, that is expected to be introduced in 2009 as an electric alternative to BMW's 5 Series and Audi's A6.
Also in the works is an affordable third model that could be released in 2012 and cost around $30,000.
Headquarters: Tesla Motors' headquarters are located in Silicon Valley, San Carlos, California. The company also has facilities in England related to the design and assembly of the Tesla Roadster, which is being assembled by Lotus Cars in Hethel, England.
The company also has multiple facilities in Taiwan that will be used in the production of the Tesla Roadster and the Tesla WhiteStar.
Management:
Elon Musk
Chairman
The primary funding source for Tesla Motors, from when Tesla Motors was just three people and a business plan to present day, having led the Series A, Series B and co-led the Series C. Electric vehicles have long been one of his primary interests, stemming from his days in the early nineties working on high energy density capacitor technology in Silicon Valley.
Musk is known for co-founding PayPal and Zip2 and founding SpaceX. The latter company is in the business of developing and launching the world's most advanced rockets for satellite and later human transportation. As Chairman of the Board of Tesla Motors, he helps develop the company's business and product strategy, and assists with knowledge of composite and metallic structures, domestic manufacturing, and navigating federal regulations.
Ze'ev Drori
President & CEO
A successful high-tech entrepreneur and an experienced chief executive with the proven ability to create and manage companies with innovative products in both the high-tech and automotive sectors. He has more than 30 years of continual success and has demonstrated the ability to lead a company from conception to profitability and public offering.
The first company he founded was Monolithic Memories, a Silicon Valley semiconductor firm that pioneered fundamental advances in memory and logic technology, before being acquired by Advanced Micro Devices in 1987. Under his leadership, Monolithic introduced programmable read-only memory (PROM) and programmable array logic (PAL), which revolutionized many aspects of computer and electronic systems technology. As CEO through 1981, Ze’ev was responsible for R&D, manufacturing, marketing, finance, worldwide sales and overseas operations for product assembly. Ze’ev served as chairman of the board from 1981 through 1987.
Jim Marver
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, VantagePoint Venture Partners
Marver has over 25 years of Silicon Valley experience investing in and advising high-level public and private technology companies. As a Managing Partner, Mr. Marver shares overall responsibility for all investment and divestiture decisions and management of the $4 billion VantagePoint Funds.
Kimbal Musk
CEO of Medium
CEO of Medium, Inc, an Internet software company based in Boulder, Colo. Prior to Medium, he has been involved in many young businesses. Musk and his brother, Elon, started their first company, Zip2, an early content management company for the Internet, 1995. It was the first company to bring vector-based maps and door-to-door directions to the internet, and it built the online content management systems behind more than 100 media companies, including The New York Times. Zip2 was sold for $307 million in cash in 1999, one of the largest transactions of its kind in the internet industry.
Steve Westly
Former California Controller and Founder of The Westly Group
CEO and Founder of The Westly Group, which helps entrepreneurs build great companies in the Clean Tech space.
Prior to founding The Westly Group, he served as the Controller and Chief Fiscal Officer of the state of California – the world's sixth largest economy. As Controller, he chaired the State Lands Commission and served on 62 other boards and commissions, including CalPERS and CalSTRS, the nation's two largest public pension funds, which together invest more than $350 billion. During his four-year term, Mr. Westly spearheaded innovative tax programs that helped close the State's budget deficit. He also led an effort to commit more than $1 billion to clean technology investments.
Ira Ehrenpreis
General Partner, Technology Partners
Ehrenpreis has been with Technology Partners since 1996. He leads the firm’s Cleantech investment practice, investing in Energy Technology, Water Technology, and Materials Science opportunities.
Ehrenpreis is a recognized leader in both the Cleantech and Venture Capital communities. He has served on several industry Advisory Boards, including the Chairman of the Cleantech Venture Network Advisory Board, the Clean-Tech Investors Summit (2005, 2006 and 2007 Conference Chairman), the Energy Investors Forum (2004 Conference Chairman), the Energy Venture Fair, the California Climate Change Advisory Board, the Southern California Tech Coast Alliance, the Golden Capital Network, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), and the Comerica Venture Capital Advisory Board. He has been featured as the Keynote speaker at both the Cleantech Venture Forum VI and the Cleantech Venture Forum V, as well as countless other industry events.
Antonio J. Gracias
CEO and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Valor Equity Partners
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Valor Equity Partners. He is responsible for the firm's management, operations, and investment strategy. Mr. Gracias has 15 years experience investing in a variety of sectors including private equity, public equity, and real estate transactions. Prior to founding Valor in 2001, Mr. Gracias served as Founder and Managing Member of MG Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in Chicago, Ill. Prior to MG Capital, Mr. Gracias was an Associate with Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he served the firm's institutional clients in the International Equity Division.
Larry W. Sonsini
Chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Sonsini has gained international recognition for his expertise in the areas of corporate law, corporate governance, securities, and mergers and acquisitions. He has been instrumental in many of the IPOs, mergers, acquisitions, and other key transactions of Silicon Valley and beyond, including Google's historic IPO and Hewlett-Packard's merger with Compaq Computer.
Visit for more information on the board of directors, major investors and more.