#212 – Richard Hawwa | Nomura Greentech – 10 Key Questions to Prepare for a Growth Capital Raise

Richard Hawwa is a Managing Director at Nomura Greentech, leading the Mobility and Automotive Technology practice in the Americas. Richard has 18 years of investment banking and operational experience, having advised on M&A and capital raising transactions with an aggregate value of more than $125 billion. Links: Show notes: http://brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/richardhawwa Edison Manufacturing Exchange: https://brandonbartneck.substack.com/publish/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-hawwa-42a64b44/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 05:42 Misconceptions About Raising Capital 09:46 The Significance of Cash Burn and Gross Margin 12:13 Understanding the Importance of Cash and Margin 16:19 The Skepticism of Investors and Founders 18:26 The Never-Ending Fundraising Process 22:31 The Importance of Scalability in Building a Business 24:45 The Dichotomy of Venture-Backed Startups and Bootstrapped Businesses 27:48 Scaling a Business: Manufacturing and Bomb Cost 33:04 Building a Sustainable Competitive Moat 34:57 The Role of Capital Deployment 37:47 The Importance of Trust and Reputation in Relationships 41:09 The Value of Domain-Specific Experience 46:32 Conclusion Keywords investment banking, raising capital, financial picture, misconceptions, capital market, funding, milestones, revenue projections, scalability, marketing, building a business, fundraising, scaling, manufacturing, bomb cost, economies of scale, vertical integration, competitive moats, capital deployment, trust, reputation, domain-specific experience, CFO Richard Hawwa Bio: Richard is a Managing Director at Nomura Greentech, leading the Mobility and Automotive Technology practice in the Americas. Richard has 18 years of investment banking and operational experience, having advised on M&A and capital raising transactions with an aggregate value of more than $125 billion. Richard most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer at Embark Trucks, a NASDAQ-listed developer of self-driving software. He was instrumental in taking Embark public and its subsequent strategic sale in 2023, having helped raise $300 million in public and private capital. Prior to joining Embark in 2021, Richard served as a Managing Director at Citigroup, responsible for coverage of companies in the global mobility and automotive sector, advising and executing strategic M&A and capital raising transactions. Throughout his career, Richard has served as a relationship and execution leader across a variety of sectors and clients and, in this capacity, is actively involved with management teams and Board of Directors in new idea generation, capital raising transactions, strategic and valuation/defense reviews, acquisition and divestiture implications and overall strategic and capital raising advisory services. Richard’s broad industry and transaction experience has been instrumental in supporting new and sustainable technologies in complex transactions and bringing his operational and transaction experience to the benefit of clients. Nomura Greentech: Nomura Greentech is a global investment banking advisory firm that supports companies in Capital Raising, M&A and Strategy. The team has the deepest transactional experience across Wall Street to provide real-time advice and form long-term partnerships with clients with access to investors globally Future of Mobility: The Future of Mobility podcast is focused on the development and implementation of safe, sustainable, effective, and accessible mobility solutions, with a spotlight on the people and technology advancing these fields. Edison Manufacturing and Engineering: Edison is your low volume contract manufacturing partner, focused on assembly of complex mobility and energy products that don’t neatly fit within traditional high-volume production methods. linkedin.com/in/brandonbartneck/ brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/