Canoo settles SEC investigation into EV maker’s merger

Canoo Inc. agreed to pay $1.5 million as part of a settlement of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the electric-vehicle startup’s blank-check merger.

The resolution was disclosed Thursday in a statement that also detailed the company’s fourth-quarter earnings. Canoo lost $80.2 million in the final three months of 2022 and finished the year with $36.6 million in cash and equivalents.

The SEC opened the probe into Canoo in early 2021 in part to look into the startup’s merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

The agency told Canoo it was also investigating its “operations, business model, revenues, revenue strategy, customer agreements, earnings and other related topics, along with the recent departures of certain of the company’s officers.”

Canoo’s shares were up 5 percent as of midday trading on Friday.