Israeli lidar start-up Innoviz goes public via USD 1.4 Billion SPAC merger
Israeli lidar start-up Innoviz Technologies is going public in a USD 1.4 Billion reverse merger with a “blank check” shell corporation, Collective Growth Corp. The SPAC provided USD 150 million in cash and raised USD 200 million from investors in the deal that gives the combined company a USD 1.4 Billion equity value.
This is the first SPAC deal for an Israeli start-up and will bring the Israeli hi-tech autonomous vehicle technology to the global front stage.
Founded in 2016, the Israeli autonomous car sensors developer will list under the ticker INVZ and retain the Innoviz Technologies name.
The Latham & Watkins LLP corporate deal team was led by Houston partner Ryan Maierson and London partner Joshua Kiernan, with Houston associates Ryan Lynch, Erin Lee, and Katie Walker. Advice was also provided on tax matters by Washington, D.C. partner Nicholas DeNovio, with associate Eli McCrain; on intellectual property matters by New York partner Jeffrey Tochner, with associate Meredith Ward; on antitrust matters by Washington, D.C. partner Jason Cruise, Frankfurt partner Max Hauser and Washington, D.C. counsel Peter Todaro; on benefits and compensation matters by Washington, D.C. partner Adam Kestenbaum; on compliance matters by Washington, D.C. partner Les Carnegie and London partner Nathan Seltzer, with Washington, D.C. associate Andrew Galdes; on environmental matters with Houston partner Joel Mack and Los Angeles counsel Joshua Marnitz, and on data privacy matter Washington, D.C. counsel Marissa Boynton.
Erdinast, Ben Nathan, Toledano & Co. represented Vertex Ventures, Magma Venture Partners and Amiti funds, which invested in the company. The EBN team comprised Roy Caner, head of the Hi-Tech department and is a senior partner in the firm’s corporate and M&A department, together with partners Shay Dayan and Viva Gayer and associate Lior Etgar.
Innoviz is just the latest company to go public via a SPAC merger. Over 80 have done the same, and together they’ve raised more than USD 30 Billion to date, according to VentureBeat.
While SPACs have been around since the 1980s, high levels of liquidity and an appetite for new growth companies have pushed the segment to historic heights. DraftKings, Virgin Galactic, and Nikola are among the companies that have chosen to go the SPAC route.
The lidar market is projected to be worth billions of dollars.
