Israeli Startup Innoviz Technologies Looking to $1.4 billion IPO

Innoviz Technologies’ founding team, which includes CEO Omer Keilaf, CBO Oren Rosenzweig and Chief R&D Officer Oren Buskila.

Innoviz Technologies, an Israeli startup which offers high-performance, solid-state LiDAR sensors and perception software, will go public in the first quarter of 2021 and expects to hit a valuation of $1.4 billion. The company will be listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “INVZ.”

But this will not be a traditional IPO. Innovitz has already made cash and stock transactions through a business combination with Collective Growth Corporation (NASDAQ: CGRO) (“Collective Growth”) in a transaction sponsored by Antara Capital LP and Perception Capital Partners LLC. So the company need not worry about an IPO disaster like what happened when We Work pulled its IPO after scandals or when the Facebook IPO fell way short of expectations.

So that makes three, no four new companies this year coming out of Startup Nation to hit the $1 billion milestone.

The transaction is supported by a $200 million fully committed common stock PIPE led by Antara Capital and includes strategic investments from Magna International, Innoviz’s Tier-1 partner and $150 million of cash held in trust by Collective Growth. Upon completion of the transaction, the combined Company will retain the Innoviz Technologies, Ltd. Name.

All Innoviz shareholders will retain 100% of their equity holdings in the public company
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Thanks to @Bloomberg for sharing the exciting news that Innoviz will be listed on the #Nasdaq #stock market through a business combination with Collective Growth Corporation. https://t.co/CmxYNPD37p

— Innoviz Technologies (@InnovizLiDAR) December 11, 2020

Founded in 2016 by by a Israeli Intelligence Corps veterans from Unit 81 Oren Rosenzweig and Omer David Keilaf, Innoviz produces solid-state LiDAR sensors and perception software that enable the mass-production of autonomous vehicles. Its solutions include InnovizPro and InnovizOne which provides 3D sensing for Level 3-Level 5 autonomous driving.

Lidar is a component of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS). Lidar measures distances by illuminating a target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor. Differences in laser return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital 3-D representations of the target.

Advanced driver-assistance systems are electronic systems which have been developed to help drivers to drive and park more safely. A computerized system works together with a driver. ADAS systems use automated technology, such as sensors and cameras, to detect nearby obstacles or driver errors.

Have you ever driven a car with one of those little monitors connected to a rear camera? The monitor allows a driver to see what is behind him when driving in reverse. This saves you the pain of twisting your neck all the way to the side when you stick it out the window when looking back, while giving the driver a better view. It also beeps a warning when you get too close to an object.
That’s ADAS.
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Omer Keilaf, Innoviz CEO said: “Innoviz continues to push the boundaries of LiDAR performance and price. Our engineers, along with our partner Magna International, have been working tirelessly to bring a solution that automakers can adopt at scale and trust to perform safely and reliably for the entire lifecycle of their vehicles.

“This milestone is pivotal for our continued growth and the advancement of the autonomous vehicle industry as a whole. It requires significant investment of time and resources and we’ve made great strides due to the support of our investors and partners. The public listing is a major step on our path to becoming one of the dominant players in the global autonomous driving industry.”