Ouster, a San Francisco-based startup that makes lidar sensors for autonomous vehicles and robots, has sealed a deal to go public by merging with the blank-check firm Colonnade Acquisition Corp. 

The merger will hand over $200 million in cash held in trust by Colonnade Acquisition Corp plus an extra $100 million that’s been committed by investors including the media conglomerate Cox Enterprises. It’ll give Ouster an equity valuation of $1.9 billion at debut.

Ouster marks the latest lidar startup looking to debut on the public markets via a reverse merger with a blank-check firm, coming on the heels of another lidar startup, Luminar, hitting the public markets with high fanfare. Another lidar startup, Aeva, sealed a blank-check merger deal this September.

Ouster has a lineup of lidar sensors that it sells to customers in four major markets; industrial automation, smart infrastructure, robotics, and automotive. One of its notable customers is the food delivery service Postmates, which uses Ouster lidars in its custom delivery robot named Serve.

Ouster was founded in 2015. It’s backed by $132 million in venture funding from investors including Cox Automotive, Amity Ventures, Runway Growth Capital, and Tao Capital Partners.

It seems that investors are highly enticed for lidar startups, with Ouster now marking as the fifth lidar startup looking to go public by merging with a blank-check firm, or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) as they’re called. 

Photo credit: Ouster

Related;

• Innoviz Seals Blank-Check Merger
• Air Taxi Startup Blade To Go Public
• Katapult Seals Blank-Check Merger

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