Velodyne Lidar’s stock surged over 50% in extended-hours trading after the company reported that Amazon had made an investment, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday (Feb. 7).
The California-based company, which makes sensors for autonomous cars, said it planned to issue a warrant for an Amazon subsidiary to buy almost 39.6 million shares.
Amazon will get a board observer in return, as long as its stock stays above roughly 12.3 million shares, and the deal will come with a “standstill agreement.”
Velodyne saw its shares rise 58% to $5.95 in the after-hours trading.
Velodyne has been trading publicly since 2020 after its merger with Graf Industrial Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The company plans to report its quarterly and full year results on Feb. 28, though it reported a 43% drop in revenue for the first nine months of the year.
The report also notes that the company’s loss more than quadrupled, now hitting $174.8 million.
PYMNTS reported recently that the autonomous car companies might not be waiting for regulation — there could soon be self-driving cars in San Francisco after driverless car company Cruise got an investment from SoftBank.
See also: Driverless Car Startups Won’t Wait for Regulators to Take Action
Kyle Vogt, a co-founder of the company, said the capital would “help us expand our world-class team and quickly scale this technology across San Francisco and into more communities.”
“Over the past several weeks, Cruise employees have been taking rides every single night,” Vogt wrote. “Even our friends from GM came out and took a ride.”
General Motors CEO Mary Barra said the driverless ride was “surreal,” and Vogt added that “anyone” in San Francisco would soon be able to reap the benefits of a driverless ride.
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