Chinese mobility tech company ECARX has completed its merger with the blank-cheque vehicle COVA Acquisition Corp to go public in the US in a deal valued at about $3.8 billion, according to an announcement.
The combined company will retain the ECARX name and its shares and warrants have commenced trading on Nasdaq under the symbols ECX and ECXWW, respectively, on Wednesday.
The deal with COVA Acquisition Corp includes a $45 million investment from mobility tech company Geely, lidar sensor maker Luminar Technologies Inc and automotive company Lotus Technology, Reuters reported earlier.
COVA, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), raised $300 million in its IPO in February last year.
“The close of this transaction and subsequent listing on Nasdaq represent a proud moment for the entire ECARX team and I thank all of them for their hard work,” said ECARX chairman and CEO, Ziyu Shen.
Established in 2016 by Geely founder Li Shufu and Chinese entrepreneur Ziyu Shen, ECARX is an independently operated developer of products like infotainment head units (IHU), digital cockpits, vehicle chip-set solutions, a core operating system and integrated software stack.
The company recorded $415 million in revenue in 2021 and its technology has been integrated into more than 3.7 million cars serving 12 OEM brands across Asia and Europe.
Looking ahead, ECARX expects to continue delivering growth as it expands the number of cars served and increases the revenue per car through new product rollouts and partnerships across the globe.
“The global automotive industry is experiencing the fastest transformation in its history and ECARX is uniquely positioned to continue capturing share within this rapidly growing market,” Shen added.
SPACs, also known as blank cheque companies, raise capital via traditional initial public offerings (IPO) for the purpose of acquiring a privately-held company. A merger with the publicly-traded SPAC provides a private company with a cheap and fast listing route.