In this interview, we talk with Matt Dunbar, Founding Director of VentureSouth. He was intimately involved with the initial funding for Proterra, an early commercial EV company. Matt reviews the early back story of Proterra's founding and early growth and success in the market. Proterra was the first Unicorn for VentureSouth and one of the few EV companies with significant revenue. Early investors were encouraged by the growth of the company and their eventual exit via a SPAC in the Summer of 2021. However, the initial enthusiasm quickly faded and the share price of Proterra has steadily fallen to a fraction of the IPO price while the early investors were 'locked up' by the SPAC conditions. The end result was a poor result for early investors while the SPAC investors did well. Matt reviews the lead-up to the SPAC in Part 1 and will discuss the dynamics of the poor outcome in Part 2.
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