French driverless electric vehicle startup Navya sacks CEO Christophe Sapet after massive revenue shortfall

French driverless electric vehicle startup Navya has sacked its founder CEO Christophe Sapet after massive revenue deficit. Besides, four board members including the representative of investors Valeo and Keolis have also resigned. The company is going through this squall within six months of being listed in Paris Stock Exchange.

Navya – the pioneer in smart mobility solutions

It has been the foremost company in France offering autonomous mobility solutions. Adopting artificial intelligence and cutting-edge digital technologies, Navya designs, manufactures and markets a range of autonomous electric vehicles. In September 2018, the startup marketed more than 100 ‘Autonom Shuttle’– a company flagship model in 20 countries including the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Australia. Further, another product ‘Autonom Cab’- a robot taxi is ready to hit the floor.

Founded in 2014 by Christophe Sapet, Navya maintains its units in Paris, Lyon and Michigan having total employee strength of 250. The major stakeholders in the stock-listed company are Robolution Capital, Gravitance, Paris Region Venture Fund, Cap Decisif Management, Valeo and Keolis groups.

Navya secured $73 million in venture capital while achieving revenue of $11.4 million in 2017. Further, the startup entered the Paris Stock Exchange in July this year and on the very first-day, its share closed at $8.16.

Is the US regulatory policy behind the underperformance?

Navya is claiming its negotiations got delayed due to the vague US regulatory policies. The company is likely to have revenue of around $20 million instead of earlier projected $34.22 million in the current financial year. Its market cap collapsed from $211.04 million last summer to $61.6 million on today, having a stock price $2.26 per share.

Till a new CEO is brought on board, CFO Frank Maccary will lead Navya as interim chief. Notably, the startup still has $27.38 million liquidity in the bank and very recently been pumped with $34.2 million in financing from the European Investment Bank.

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