Vancouver’s Damon, a designer of splashy electric motorcycles, is currently seeking millions more dollars in capital as the company battles major delays in shipping its flagship “HyperSport” vehicle.
Founded in 2017, Vancouver’s Damon is behind the tech-forward HyperSport. Originally announced in 2019, the HyperSport promises a range of up to 200 miles and a top speed of 200 miles per hour, as well as a novel production design and special safety technologies such as an AI-enhanced 360º collision warning system.
“I want nothing more than for everyone to experience a Damon HyperSport,” former Chief Executive Officer Jay Giraud previously stated. “It’s truly a game changer for the ages.”
But things are seldom so simple as getting what we want.
Production and commercialization from Damon is no longer expected until 2026 due to various snags. One critical concern for Damon has been securing “adequate funding.”
In the spring of 2022, Damon raised a USD $26M Series B financing. But market momentum halted and the company fell short of securing an important Series C follow-up.
Late last year, Damon went public on the Nasdaq with hopes to access additional capital to fund production.
“Listing on Nasdaq isn’t just a financial milestone for us; it’s a powerful affirmation of our mission to transform urban mobility and future-proof motorcycling,” Giraud said in 2024, shortly before departing the company.
However, the plan has so far backfired: Shares in Damon, trading as DMN, are down roughly 70% since going public.
The company’s shortcomings triggered a highly critical piece from motorcycle news website RideApart last month, which suggests that even Damon’s adjusted 2026 timeline of shipping HyperSports to consumers is wildly optimistic.
Damon has stated that it is “positioned to capture a significant share of the $40B global electric two-wheeler market by 2030.” Currently, though, it has exactly none of that share.
Jonathon Klein, Executive Editor of RideApart, did a deep dive on Damon and discovered “a number of unannounced layoffs,” odd founding team behaviour, and “the general chaos behind the scenes of a company that was seemingly full of big promises and little else.”
Klein cites the recent departure of Derek Dorresteyn, a key member of Damon’s technical team, as a nail in the coffin for the startup, which “doesn’t currently have a chief engineer who could really deliver on the company’s motorcycle promise.”
“I am proud of what we accomplished together, including more than 40 patents issued or filed and the creation of an EV motorcycle platform and initial product that fundamentally changes range, performance, and cost while introducing innovative features that tech savvy consumers expect in product,” Dorresteyn stated in a farewell-to-Damon post on LinkedIn.
In addition to layoffs and departures, Damon has struggled to secure a stable manufacturing facility. After initially hyping up a brand new facility in B.C., Damon quietly shifted business to California.
There’s also a lack of fully functioning prototypes. Only one person outside the company has ever ridden a HyperSport, and he said it was missing many of Damon’s purported tech features. In fact, rider and journalist Tim Stevens noted that “The bike I rode had controls mostly borrowed from a BMW S1000RR.”
Perhaps with a large enough cash infusion, Damon can finally deliver on its bold promises, Klein posits in his piece.
But based on the available information, it’s tough to say when—or if—early supporters of the startup will truly ride their own fully featured HyperSport motorbike.
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