Volta
EV chargingUSA
New to Unitard
🤝 Acquired
Peak $1.4 BillionToday
~-88%
from peak
- 🦄Became a unicorn2021
- 📈Peak valuation$1.4 Billion ’21
- 💔Became a Unitard2022
- 💸Last valuation~$168M
Current status
Acquired by Shell ~$169M (2023)
The rise & fall
5 moments · 2010–2023The key moments.
2010
2010
Founded
Scott Mercer's pitch: free, ad-supported EV charging — big media screens pay for the electrons.
TechCrunch
2021
2021
The peak: a $1.4B SPAC debut$1.4B
The ad-supported charging network goes public via SPAC at roughly $1.4B.
Reuters
2022
2022
Cash crunch, going-concern doubts
Losses mount faster than the ad model can cover, pushing the company into going-concern territory.
SEC filing
2022
2022
Slips out of the club
Within a year of the debut, the market cap sinks below $1B.
Macrotrends
2023
2023
Acquired by Shell for ~$169M$169M
The oil major picks up the network for about 12 cents on the peak dollar — an ~88% markdown.
Reuters
How it happened
Volta operated an ad-supported EV charging network with media-display chargers and went public via SPAC in 2021 at roughly a $1.4B valuation. Mounting losses and a cash crunch sent its shares below $1B and into going-concern territory. Shell acquired the company for about $169M in 2023, roughly 88% below its peak valuation.
Source: De-SPAC 2021
Founder
- Scott Mercerfounder & last founder-CEONo public profile matched
Disclosed investors (24)
Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.
* Lead in a funding round · Crunchbase ↗ · 2026-10-13 · Methodology · Leaderboard
