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EV startup Canoo ’s principal engineering officer Sohel Merchant has left the society , two hoi polloi conversant with his departure have tell TechCrunch .
Merchant was one of the members of Canoo ’s founding squad , who created the inauguration in late 2017 . His going away from the company means that only one of those establish team members remain — main engineer Christoph Kuttner .
Canoo did not respond to a asking for comment . Merchant worsen to comment .
The split total at a time when Canoo is go through a ample shake-up . The startup isclosing downits Los Angeles headquarters and demand most of the nearly 200 employees who figure out there to relocate to either Texas ( where Canoo has a corporate spot ) or Oklahoma ( where it ’s trying to stand up a fabrication quickness ) .
The company has been in a unremitting country of remaking itself since it went public in late 2020 as part of a unification with a special purpose acquirement society , or SPAC . Shortly after that happened , president Tony Aquila took over as chief executive officer , and swivel Canoo away from the plan of deal its electric van to everyday people . Instead , he start targeting the commercial EV space .
Aquila ’s program for Canoo have shift in the age since he start running the company . He foretell in late 2021 that he wasmovingthe company ’s headquarters from Los Angeles to Bentonville , Arkansas , the hometown of Walmart — which Canoo was solicit as a blue - chip client .
Walmart did eventually sign a deal with Canoo in 2022 , but it was anextremely grim - riskarrangement for the retailer , and the EV shaper has yet to transport any meaningful volume of vehicle as part of the deal . The move to Bentonville never really happened , either . Meanwhile , Canoo turned its tidy sum toward Oklahoma , where Aquila announced plan for a monolithic manufacturing facility that has yet to be progress . The company is currently screen fomite for the United States Postal Service , NASA and the Department of Defense , but is swooning on immediate payment . Last week itreportedhaving just $ 19.1 million as of June 30 .
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Canoo has steadily lose most all of its founding team over that time . carbon monoxide - founder and former CEO Stefan Krauseleftthe company in 2020 . His replacement , fellow atomic number 27 - founder Ulrich Kranz , resignedin 2021 and spent a few long time form on Apple ’s close EV project . Another core co - founder , honcho designer Richard Kim , leftin 2023 .
