Fisker closes $85M financing in run-up to production

Irvine, Calif.-based plug-in hybrid developer Fisker Automotive said it plans to close a Series D financing round of $85 million this month from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Eco-Drive Capital Partners.

Once the deal closes, the company says it will have secured more than $100 million to get its hybrid electric sports car into production, but it declined to give details. Previous funding announcements indicate the company now has nearly $180 million in venture backing since it was founded in August 2007.

The big bucks are backing Fisker's $87,900 sports car, dubbed the Karma, which is expected to travel 50 miles on a charge of its lithium ion battery and 250 miles on a tank of gas running the 2.0 liter engine. Fisker has tapped Finland's Valmet Automotive, which makes Porsche's Boxter and Cayman models, to produce the Karma sedan beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009 for the North American market (see Cleantech cars advance as old guard stumbles). The first Karmas are expected to be delivered in Europe in 2010.

The company reportedly has orders for 1,300 vehicles. The company's annual production is projected to reach 15,000 cars in the first full year of manufacturing, with more than half of the sales expected to be overseas.

One-time partner but current rival Tesla Motors says it has delivered 250 of its $109,000 Roadsters and has a waiting list of 1,000 (see Solyndra nabs $535M DOE loan for 500 MW factory). Tesla's lawsuit against Fisker was dismissed in December (see Can't we all just get along?).

In March, Fisker held its second closing on a Series C round of $68 million from Al Ghaffara Investment, Palo Alto Investors and Kleiner Perkins (see Solar sell-off accelerates and Cleantech cash piles up in Israel). In February 2008, Fisker said it raised $20 million in a second round of funding, which was led by Kleiner Perkins (see Big returns for Shenzhen Topraysolar?). And the company raised $5.5 million in its first round led by Palo Alto Investors.

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