Tekcapital portfolio company Guident has announced the appointment of a US investment bank to conduct a private placement for the autonomous vehicle technology company ahead of a potential NASDAQ IPO later this year.
The investment bank will conduct both the private placement and the IPO raise.
“We are very pleased to have appointed an investment banker,” said Harald Braun, Executive Chairman of Guident.
“The AV industry is rapidly developing, and we believe that teleoperations is critical for the safe roll out of vehicles and robots. The adoption of autonomous vehicles globally is accelerating, and Guident welcomes the accompanying regulatory developments that put the safety of passengers and the public at the forefront of autonomous vehicle rollouts.”
Teleoperations are crucial to meeting many US states’ safety requirements, which stipulate autonomous vehicles must be able to be remotely controlled by a human operator in the case of any mishaps.
Meeting these requirements is a prerequisite to the roll-out of autonomous vehicles in states including California, Florida, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Louisiana.
Tekcapital is yet to provide any insight into Guident’s potential valuation on a successful NASDAQ listing. However, the AV sector is attracting billions in investment, with investors prepared to provide funding at rich valuations to secure a piece of exciting early-stage AV companies.
WeRide’s initial public offering, combined with a concurrent private placement, generated $458.5 million in proceeds. Meanwhile, Waymo LLC has completed its largest funding round to date, securing $5.6 billion from investors. Pony.ai raised $260m at a valuation of over $5bn.
The weight of evidence from recent transactions and the revenue multiples investors committed their cash at suggests Guident could prove to be the jewel in Tekcapital’s crown with a valuation potentially many times Tekcapital’s current market cap.