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15 Aug 2023
Nasdaq-listed firm began shipping production lidar units to key customer BMW last month.
Innoviz Technologies, the Israel-headquartered lidar startup that raised upwards of $300 million when it listed on the Nasdaq in April 2021, has raised another $65 million in a follow-up offering.
The Tel Aviv company - tipped by analysts at Strategy Analytics as a future leader in automotive lidar thanks to key relationships with both VW and BMW - sold 26 million ordinary shares at a price of $2.50 each.
Underwritten by Goldman Sachs, the proceeds will augment an existing pile of cash and equivalent liquid assets that stood at just under $130 million at the end of June.
That figure was revealed in Innoviz’ latest financial results, when the firm reported an operating loss of $71 million on sales of only $2.5 million in the first half of the year.
However, with shipments of production units to BMW said to have commenced in July, the company has upgraded its annual sales expectations for 2023, to between $15 million and $20 million.
“The first component shipments intended for production vehicles [are] expected to be installed on BMW 7 Series vehicles available later this year or early 2024,” stated the firm.
BMW and VW relationships
Innoviz added that with those shipments under way, it was now expanding its focus to an “all-new second-generation” lidar platform for the German auto giant, based on its “InnovizTwo” product.
“The new platform is targeting a more robust and higher-value software suite and an expanded hardware lineup,” stated the firm. “Innoviz seeks to make the solution available to a broader range and higher volume of vehicles.”
CEO Omar Keilaf, who co-founded the company with former Israeli Defense Forces intelligence officers, added: “The opportunity for Innoviz to evolve to a Tier-1 supplier with another major OEM is an important development, and we are excited to move to the B-sample stage of the second-generation lidar platform with the BMW Group.”
A year ago, Strategy Analytics suggested that a deal signed in May 2022 with the VW-owned automotive software specialist CARIAD would catapult Innoviz to the top of the rankings when VW begins deploying the technology in the mid-2020s.
Innoviz had previously indicated that the CARIAD deal had boosted its forward-looking order book to a cool $4 billion, also claiming that it was working with eight of the world’s top-ten auto makers.
The firm added in its latest investor presentation that the automotive lidar sector was moving into a critical phase, with the majority of future automotive OEM market share set to be awarded over the next 12-18 months.
Its management team then expects the multitude of current potential suppliers to consolidate to just two or three major players.
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