Byton
Electric vehiclesChina
New to Unitard
π Dead / Bankrupt
PeakΒ $1.2 BillionToday
~-100%
from peak
- π¦Became a unicorn2018
- πPeak valuation$1.2 Billion β19
- πBecame a UnitardJun 2023
- πΈLast valuationWiped out
π₯ Raised & burned
$1.2B
Total raised
$441K/day
Burned Β· 7.5y alive
Funding: Crunchbase roster
Current status
Bankruptcy (2023)
The rise & fall
8 moments Β· 2016β2023The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2016
2016
Founded by BMWβs i8 alumni
Carsten Breitfeld and Daniel Kirchert set up in Nanjing to build a βsmart device on wheels.β
Wikipedia
Jan 2018
Jan 2018
CES stunner: the 48-inch screen
The M-Byte concept debuts in Las Vegas with a dashboard-wide display and instant hype.
TechCrunch
2018
2018
Joins the unicorn club
A Series B led by state automaker FAW pushes the screen-laden EV startup past $1B.
Reuters
2019
2019
The peak: $1.2B, production car unveiled$1.2B
The production M-Byte breaks cover as total funding climbs toward $1.2B β the valuation tops out at about the same number.
Reuters
Jul 2020
Jul 2020
Everything stops
Byton suspends operations and furloughs staff as the money runs out mid-pandemic.
Reuters
2019β21
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2019β21
Glassdoor reviews from Santa Clara, Nanjing and Shanghai told one story: an admired product starved by funding forever promised and never arriving, paychecks turning shaky as money ran down. Some reviewers alleged the state-backed lead investor mainly wanted Byton's technology back in China.
Jun 2023
Jun 2023
Bankruptcy in Nanjing β joins the Unitard Club π
A Nanjing court accepts the case: more than $1.2B raised, zero production cars delivered.
CCTV
$1.2Bof peak value erased Β· 7 years
π¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Byton raised more than $1.2B from backers including FAW, Tencent and Foxconn to build a screen-laden electric SUV, but never delivered a single production vehicle; a Nanjing court accepted its bankruptcy case in 2023.
Source: CCTV; raised ~$1.2B, no cars delivered
Where they went
- Carsten BreitfeldCo-founder & CEONot on record
- Daniel Kirchertco-founder; CEO from 2019CEO & Co-Founder at FLYNT
Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.
