Israeli chipmaker Valens Semiconductor Ltd. is in talks to list on the NYSE through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) PTK Acquisition Corp., people with knowledge of the matter have told "Bloomberg."
The blank check company, which raised $115 million last July, is seeking to raise $100 million or more in new equity as part of the merger, which would value Valens at between $1 billion and $1.2 billion, one of the people told "Bloomberg."
"Bloomberg" added that a representative from Valens declined to comment and a representative for PTK Acquisition couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
The company was founded in 2006 by Dror Jerushalmi, Massad Eyal, Eyran Lida, Gaby Gur Cohen, Nadav Banet, and Alon Benzaray and is currently led by CEO Gideon Ben-Zvi. Only Lida (CTO) and Eyal (VP core technologies development) are still active in the company.
Valens has developed chips for the audio-video market including vehicle connectivity solutions and has raised $164 million according to Start Up Nation Central. Investors include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Linse Capital, Oppenheimer Asset Management and Samsung Electronics Co.’s Catalyst Fund
"Bloomberg" reports, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter, that Valens is projected to deliver revenue of more than $60 million in fiscal 2021.
Israel's auto-tech sector has embraced the SPAC trend to list on Wall Street. Lidar laser sensor company Innoviz Technologies began trading on Nasdaq last week after completing a SPAC merger and radar chip developer Arbe Robotics, connected car data platform Otonomo, and electric vehicle platform REE have all announced agreeing SPAC mergers, while connected vehicles (V2X) developer Autotalks is reportedly nearing a SPAC merger. But new accounting demands by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could delay these mergers.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 14, 2021
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