PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel joined Piëch Automotive as investor

In May this year, Piëch Automotive completed its series A round, attracting of Peter Thiel to its investor board. Thiel is the co-founder of PayPal, venture capitalist and early investor in Facebook and member of its board. He also cofounded CIA-backed big data startup Palantir, recently valued at around $20 billion, as revealed in Forbes. Thiel is a partner at Founders Fund, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has invested in companies such as SpaceX and Airbnb. He is also New York Times bestselling author of Zero to One: Notes on Startups, and How to Build the Future.

With the conclusion of its series A round, Piëch Automotive has launched the Series B with Swiss bank UBS acting as sole advisor. The startup aims to raise additional capital of €150, as announced in the Sunday news in Welt am Sonntag. The funds will enable Piëch to launch its first production car.

First electric sports car with the fastest charging batter
Founded in 2017 by Toni Piëch and Rea Stark, the Swiss sports car company, Piëch Automotive designed and manufactured the Piëch GT2, a battery-electric sports car that features a new battery that reaches 80% capacity after being charged for just 4 minutes 40 seconds and delivers the longest driving a range with 400 kilometres. The company has not only set a new record in the global EV sector, but it is also a trailblazer that set new benchmarks for sustainable mobility within the automotive industry.

Moving forward, Piëch is currently preparing for the next pivotal stage in the launch of its sports car. It has completed the design of the car and will now commission the first prototypes, secure significant vehicle development partners, and commence construction of the Piëch Engineering Campus in Memmingen, Germany. The first planned vehicle concept will be available for purchase at the end of 2022.

Leading executives join Piece Automotive
After winning Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel, Swiss startup Piëch Automotive has welcomed; Matthias Müller, former CEO of Porsche and Volkswagen to its board of directors and appointed him to Chairman. He will support the founding team in shaping its product development and corporate strategy.

Former BMW Motorsport chief engineer Klaus Schmidt retains his role as Piëch Automotive’s Chief Technology Officer and will now also become one of two company CEOs. Over the past four years, Schmidt has led the creation of the company’s highly innovative modular vehicle platform, which can accommodate multiple body variants and powertrain layouts. He will oversee the management of all technical operations.

Next to Schmidt is the newly appointed CEO and Chief Marketing Officer Andreas Henke, who takes the lead on brand strategy and marketing, customer relationships, finance and personnel. Henke joins from high-end audio manufacturer Burmester. Prior to that, he was with Porsche, where he held various management positions in strategy, marketing and sales. He will sharpen Piëch’s vision, brand positioning and profile.

The startup continues to recruit additional creative talent and experienced executives from across the automotive sector and related industries. One key example is Jochen Rudat, who recently joined as Piëch Automotive’s Head of Sales. A former direct report to Elon Musk, Rudat built Tesla’s dealership network in Europe from the ground up and scaled the business for 10 years.

(Press release/RAN)
Photo L-R: Peter Thiel, Klaus Schmidt, Toni Piëch, Matthias Müller and Rea Stark