- GeneralSPAC
- December 11, 2020
- 5 minutes read
Innoviz Seals Blank-Check Merger
Innoviz Technologies, an Israeli startup that makes lidar sensors, has sealed a deal to go public by merging with the blank-check firm Collective Growth…
Innoviz Technologies, an Israeli startup that makes lidar sensors, has sealed a deal to go public by merging with the blank-check firm Collective Growth Corporation. The merger will hand over $150 million in cash secured by Collective Growth to Innoviz plus an extra $200 million that’s been committed by other investors, including the Canadian automotive parts supplier Magna International.
The merger will see Innoviz go public after just four years since it was founded, wherein it’s raised a total of $251 million in venture funding from investors including Delphi Automotive, Magna, and SoftBank Ventures Asia.
Innoviz makes lidar sensors, which are the sensors often found on autonomous vehicles that cater to visual perception and distance measurement. The company has unveiled two lidar sensors so far which it supplies to companies working on driverless vehicles.
Innoviz has plans to create and supply lidars at very low costs, below $100 in some cases. It’s secured deals with automakers such as BMW and the automotive parts giant Magna as a key supplier.
 |
| Innoviz Technologies’ founding team, which includes CEO Omer Keilaf (middle), CBO Oren Rosenzweig (left) and Chief R&D Officer Oren Buskila (right). |
Innoviz was founded in 2016 by by a group of entrepreneurs headed by Omer Keilaf, who once served in the Israeli Army’s elite unit 81 division, and in just four years, he’s set to oversee a blank-check merger that’s expected to value Innoviz at $1.4 billion at its market debut.
Upon completion of the merger, Innoviz will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “INVZ”. All of the company’s current shareholders will retain their stakes in the company and won’t sell any prior to the completion of the merger, implying that the $350 million to be raised will go entirely to Innoviz and fund its operations.
Photo credit: Innoviz
