NEW YORK – Self-driving car start-up Aurora yesterday announced that it is taking a side road to going public in a transaction valuing it at US$13 billion.
The Silicon Valley-based company is on course for a Wall Street debut by merging with Reinvent Technology Partners Y, a specific acquisition company formed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus.
The financial tactic allows a private company to begin trading shares under the auspices of an already established entity without going through a traditional initial public offering of stock.
“We believe Aurora will be the first to commercialise self-driving technology at scale for the United States trucking and passenger transportation markets based on its industry-leading team, technology and partnerships,” said Pincus in a release.
Culmination of the deal is expected by the end of this year.
The combined company will be named Aurora Innovation and trade on Nasdaq with the ticker symbol AUR, the firms announced.
Aurora was established in 2017 by industry veterans who had done stints at Google, Tesla and Uber. Its backers include e-commerce colossus Amazon, Fiat Chrysler, and South Korean carmaker Hyundai.
“Our goal at Aurora is to make the movement of goods and people more equitable, dependable, productive and – crucially – much safer than it is today,” said Aurora co-founder and chief Chris Urmson in the release.
“By combining with Reinvent, and with this incredible group of investors, we are even closer to deploying self-driving vehicles and delivering the benefits this technology offers the world.”
In December, Uber agreed to sell its autonomous car division to Aurora in a deal that gave the ride-hailing giant a stake in the start-up developing self-driving technology.
Aurora has an array of competitors in the self-driving race, including the Waymo unit owned by Google-parent Alphabet.
Waymo opened its robo-taxi project to the general public in the Phoenix late last year, becoming the first widely available driverless ride service. – AFP, July 16, 2021
