Thu, Feb 17, 2022 page12

• Gogoro set to debut on NASDAQ by quarter’s end

  INVESTOR OPINION: Gogoro’s new business model is almost like Android, as the firm is partnering with other vehicle makers, Engine No. 1 portfolio manager Edward Sun said

  • By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
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  Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) yesterday said it is on track to debut its shares on the NASDAQ by the end of this quarter through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Poema Global Holdings Corp.

  The Taoyuan-based electric scooter maker and battery swapping service provider made the comments after it gained Hero Motocorp, Engine No. 1 and other investors in the middle of last month, raising its oversubscribed private investment in public equity from US$257 million to US$285 million.

  “We are working through due diligence for [the US Securities and Exchange Commission]. We should complete it, we hope, in the first week of March,” Gogoro chief financial officer Bruce Aitken told an online news conference. “We are on track to complete the overall transaction by the end of the first quarter. It is our goal.”

  

  A woman swaps the battery of her electric scooter at a Gogoro Inc station in Taipei on Aug. 10, 2017.

  Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters

  Gogoro shares would be listed on the NASDAQ under the stock symbol “GGR.”

  Asked what attracted it to Gogoro, Engine No. 1 portfolio manager Edward Sun said that when he first met Gogoro founder and chief executive officer Horace Luke (陸學森) in 2017, Gogoro mostly focused on making hardware, or electric scooters.

  Sun said he thought it might be too risky to bet on an electric scooter maker, but he became interested after Gogoro strategically shifted its business model to capitalize on selling green energy by subscription.

  “Subscription is a high-margin business and is something sustainable,” he said.

  The battery swapping service offered by Gogoro is a better solution than traditional charging methods, Sun said.

  Furthermore, Gogoro’s new business model is “almost like the Android of the electric scooter world,” as it is forming partnerships with other vehicle makers, Sun said.

  Those partnerships in China, India and Southeast Asia would greatly increase Gogoro’s chances of penetrating these emerging markets, he said.

  The market size in China, India and Southeast Asia combined is 80 times larger than the market in Taiwan, he said, adding that in India, 82 percent of all vehicles are two wheelers, while the figure in Indonesia is even higher at 90 percent.

  Gogoro last month said that it has teamed up with Electrum to build an electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia, the third-largest two-wheel vehicle market in the world, with a focus on two-wheel vehicles and developing a high-efficiency battery.

  In China, Gogoro is partnering with China’s biggest scooter maker, Yadea Technology Group Co (雅迪科技集團), and Jiangmen Dachangjiang Group Co (大江集團).

  Gogoro also plans to expand its reach into New Delhi by teaming up with Hero MotoCorp Ltd, India’s biggest motorcycle maker.

  As an activist firm, Engine No. 1 helped ExxonMobil Corp and General Motors in slashing global carbon dioxide emissions, but Sun did not disclose any substantial plan to accelerate Gogoro’s decarbonization.

  Engine No. 1 in May last year won a campaign to replace three seats on the board of Exxon Mobil, but it has no plan to take any seats on Gogoro’s board.

  “Gogoro has a strong board. There is no reason to take a board seat,” Sun said.
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