Amazon has the rights to now purchase preferred shares of Plus at a price of $0.46647 per share, the document reveals. That comes to around 20% of the company based on the shares outstanding before the scheduled merger with the Hennessy SPAC.
The Sequoia Capital China-linked company, which is creating self-driving tech for long-haul trucking, is valued around $3.3 billion, adding $500 million to increase its growth, the firm said recently. The company raised $150 million through private investment in public equity, from funds which included D.E. Shaw and BlackRock.
Plus is among the new companies attempting to disrupt a troubled long-haul trucking industry with driverless tech. It has been allying with Chinese company SF Holding, which uses Plus-equipped trucks that can travel 932 miles per day. State-owned China FAW Group intends to start production of autonomous trucks this quarter.
The Hennessy SPAC brought in $345 million in their January IPO. CEO Daniel J. Hennessy led blank-check companies that did deals to create companies like EV developer Canoo Inc., Blue Bird Corp., which creates school buses, and logistics and transportation company Daseke Inc.
Founded by Stanford students in 2016, Plus is supported by backers like GSR Ventures Management, Shanghai Automotive Corp. and a Chinese trucking company called Full Truck Alliance. It also has an agreement with European truck producer Iveco SpA and is partnering with Cummins Inc. to use self-driving tech in trucks that use natural gas.
The company raised $200 million in a round of funding in Feb. that attracted investors like Guotai Junan International. It brought in another $220 million from investors in March.
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