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Sono Motors

EVGermany
New to Unitard
πŸ“‰ Public < $1B
PeakΒ $1.5 BillionRecorded estimate
~-90%
from peak
  1. πŸ¦„
    Became a unicorn
    Nov 2021
  2. πŸ“ˆ
    Peak valuation
    $1.5 Billion ’21
  3. πŸ’”
    Became a Unitard
    2022
  4. πŸ’Έ
    Last valuation estimate
    ~$150M
Current status
Public; discontinued the Sion program

The rise & fall

6 moments Β· 2016–2023

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

2016
Founded in a Munich garage
Laurin Hahn and Jona Christians set out to build the Sion β€” a family EV wrapped in solar panels.
Wikipedia
Nov 2021
The peak: a $1.5B Nasdaq debut$1.5B
The solar-car startup lists at roughly a $1.5B valuation β€” unicorn status without a car in mass production.
Quartz
2022
Slips out of the club
The IPO shine fades fast; within a year the market cap is a fraction of the debut price.
Quartz
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2022–23
Glassdoor reviews from the Munich workforce stayed warm about the mission but returned again and again to precarious finances and thin job security β€” though some employees credited leadership with being transparent about how tight the money was.
Feb 2023
The Sion is killed
Unable to raise enough to mass-produce its solar car, Sono axes the consumer program and pivots to selling solar tech to third parties.
Quartz

πŸ’¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β†—; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

Sono Motors, a German EV startup, developed the solar-paneled Sion car and IPO'd on Nasdaq in November 2021 at roughly a $1.5B valuation. Unable to raise enough funding to mass-produce the Sion, it killed the consumer car program in early 2023 to focus on solar technology for third parties. Its market cap fell well below $1B, about 90% off peak.

Source: Quartz

Founders

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

Disclosed investors (10)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round Β· Crunchbase β†— Β· 2026-10-13 Β· Methodology Β· Leaderboard

More from the club

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Same fate Β· post-IPO market cap decline
Bumble$8.18BRoot Insurance$6.7BVroom$5BBlend Labs$4BCriteo$3.59B
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