The Daily Dish (8/5/21)
Hydrow In Talks For $1 Billion SPAC Merger
Hydrow, which sells connected fitness rowing machines, is planning to go public through an SPAC merger with Sandbridge X2 Corp at a valuation of $1 Billion. Hydro also sells heart rate monitors, yoga accessories, headphones and other products.
Other fitness brands have taken advantage of the conditions and have either listed or plan to go public including Echelon Fitness, iFIT Health & Fitness and Beachbody.
Hydrow raised $25 million last year and $20 million the year before in a funding round led by L Catterton, a LVMH backed private equity firm that is also in talks to go public.
The four year old company’s sales have jumped by 400% during the pandemic and continue to accelerate.
Lidar Maker Cepton In Talks for SPAC Merger
LiDAR maker Cepton Technologies, is in talks with SPAC Growth Capital Acquisition Corp to go public at a valuation of $1.5 Billion with the deal expected to be announced soon.
Cepton is the latest LiDAR technology startup to go public through a SPAC merger after Luminar, Velodyne and Innoviz.
LiDAR is amongst the most expensive components of autonomous vehicles currently and may be the key to enable more advanced self driving features.
With the promise of fully autonomous robotaxis still a few years away, LiDAR companies are targeting limited feature in passenger vehicles and products such as industrial robots and consumer devices.
Cepton was started in 2016 and is run by Co-Founder and CEO Jun Pei, who previously worked at Velodyne.
The company secured a LiDAR production award with Detroit based global automotive manufacturer in a partnership with Japan’s Koito Manufacturing Co.
Denton Sues Lucid Amidst Equity Dispute After SPAC Merger
Law Firm Dentons US LLP has sued Lucid in Delaware to to acknowledge the ownership of its shares in EV maker after its recent merger with Churchill.
Dentons said it wanted the court to order Lucid to issue a new certificate for the stock, note its ownership in Lucid’s ledger and prevent the shares from being transferred without the law firms consent.
The law firm received the shares after helping its client Shanghai Qichengyueming Investment Partnership settle the enforcement of a Chinese arbitration award.
The law firm said that it had received shares from a company known as Pisces Co, but believes that Pisces breached its obligations by refusing to finalize an agreement about a share transfer.
