Moderation Team
Luminar Technologies Inc. on Monday said it will go public through a $3.4 billion reverse merger with “blank check” company Gores Metropolous Inc.
It is the second Bay Area autonomous vehicle tech company to choose this route over doing an IPO, joining San Jose-based Velodyne Lidar Inc. which announced similar plans earlier this year. The region hasn’t seen a locally-based tech IPO since December.
Two big advantages to going this route are that it can be faster and, unlike a direct listing, the company going public can also raise funds.
In this case, Palo Alto-based Luminar is slated to get $400 million in cash from Gores Metropoulos and another $170 million from existing investors, who include venture capitalist Peter Thiel, a unit of Volvo Car AB and GoPro Inc. founder Nick Woodman.
Volvo plans to use Luminar’s tech to bring self-driving capabilities to a new line of cars the automaker expects to introduce in 2022.
CEO Austin Russell, a 25-year-old who founded the company in 2012 when he was a teen, told Bloomberg that he thought going public this way is more secure amid the market volatility during the pandemic.
“By the time this is over, we will have brought in north of $500 million — that allows us to make these kinds of strategic investments and additionally accelerate our programs and timelines and customer adoption,” Russell said.
Nearly 100 of Luminar’s 350 employees work at its Palo Alto headquarters. It also has locations in Detroit, Orlando and Israel.
The company had raised a total of about $250 million and was figured to be worth about $900 million after raising funds last summer, according to PitchBook Data.
Luminar earlier this year switched to a business model in which it now offers its hardware, software and systems on a subscription basis to the major auto industry customers who use its technology as they develop and test autonomous vehicles. It is shifting away from only getting revenue from sensor sales at that stage to create a subscription revenue stream for access to its tech during development.
Gores Metropoulos is led by Alec Gores, founder of Los Angeles-based private equity firm Gores Group LLC, and Dean Metropoulos, a consumer tech investor. They raised $400 million in an IPO in February 2019. Its shares closed Friday at $10.51, giving it a market value of $525.5 million.
“Luminar represents a rare opportunity to invest in the leading player in autonomous driving technology for cars and trucks,” Gores said in Monday’s announcement. “We are excited to partner with a visionary founder like Austin who has developed from scratch the only lidar technology that meets the most stringent OEM specification requirements for safety and performance.”
After the merger, Luminar plans to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol of “LAZR.”
Source: www.bizjournals.com
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