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Better Place

EV infrastructureIsrael
New to Unitard
πŸ’€ Dead / Bankrupt
PeakΒ $2.25 BillionToday
~-100%
from peak
  1. πŸ¦„
    Became a unicorn
    2011
  2. πŸ“ˆ
    Peak valuation
    $2.25 Billion ’11
  3. πŸ’”
    Became a Unitard
    May 2013
  4. πŸ’Έ
    Last valuation
    Wiped out
πŸ”₯ Raised & burned
$850M
Total raised
$396K/day
Burned Β· 5.9y alive
Funding: TechCrunch / MIT Tech Review / Reuters
Current status
Wind-up (May 2013); assets sold ~$450K

The rise & fall

7 moments Β· 2007–2013

The key moments.

2007
Founded by Shai Agassi
The SAP star quits to fix the electric car's biggest problem: don't wait for a charge β€” swap the battery in minutes.
Wikipedia
2011
The peak: $2.25B$2.25B
More than $850M raised from GE, HSBC and the European Investment Bank to build a nationwide battery-swap network.
Reuters
Oct 2012
Founder out
With sales stalling, the board replaces Agassi; two more CEOs cycle through within months.
Reuters
2013
About 900 cars
After six years and more than $850M, roughly 900 electric cars are on Israeli roads.
Reuters
May 2013
Files to wind up β€” joins the Unitard Club πŸ’”
The capital-intensive dream runs dry; the pioneer of battery swapping liquidates.
Reuters
2013
Assets sell for ~$450,000$450K
A $2.25B vision fetches about 0.02% of its peak valuation.
Reuters
$2.25Bof peak value erased Β· 6 years

How it happened

Better Place built battery-swapping networks to make electric cars practical, and was valued at $2.25B after raising more than $850M from GE, HSBC and the European Investment Bank. Its capital-intensive model attracted only about 900 cars on Israeli roads. The company filed to wind up in May 2013, and its assets sold for roughly $450,000.

Source: Reuters; raised >$850M

Where they went

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-21. See our methodology.

πŸ¦„