Gores, who’s the CEO of Gores Metropoulos, said Austin developed the only lidar technology that meets the most stringent safety specifications of carmakers, and he did so from scratch. “Luminar is well-positioned to dominate the autonomous landscape,” he added.
Luminar and its existing investors will end up keeping about 80% of the company as part of the deal, and Gores Metropoulos will own about 11%, Russell said.
Gores Metropoulos raised $400 million, including so-called greenshoe shares, in an initial public offering in February 2019.
Auto tech companies have benefited from the boom in blank-check deals, as investors who might have earlier favored traditional IPOs now seek businesses with higher growth.
In June, another company that makes sensors used in self-driving vehicles, Velodyne Lidar Inc., announced a deal to merge with blank-check company Graf Industrial Corp.
After the deal closes, Luminar will be traded on the Nasdaq Select Market under the ticker LAZR.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.