Lidar company Luminar Technologies, have agreed to go public through a USD $3.4bn merger with blank-check company Gores Metropoulos, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
A deal for Luminar, one of the industry leaders in lidar technology that tracks a vehicle’s external environment, could be announced very soon.
Luminar are the latest private entity to merge with a SPAC—a special-purpose acquisition company, as these investment-intended outfits are known. They’ve sort of gone mainstream this year, offering a fast route for companies seeking to go public without the scrutiny or risks of an initial public offering.
Luminar’s CEO is 25-year-old CEO Austin Russell, who founded the company in 2012 in Palo Alto, California. The startup’s technology, which uses lasers to create real-time imagery of the physical world, is deployed in cars and trucks. They have about 350 employees and appointed former investment banker Thomas Fennimore as CFO in July.
The Luminar deal will be paid for with $400m in cash from the blank-check company, as well as $170m from other investors including a unit of Volvo Cars and GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman.
After the transaction, Luminar will continue to be run by their management team including Russell and Fennimore, with Gores having a board seat.