The San Francisco company will tap public markets with a pro forma equity value of US$5.16 billion through a merger with Northern Genesis, which previously aided Lion Electric’s public offering. (The Logic)
Talking point: The deal suggests that competition is heating up for autonomous-truck makers. Amazon is reportedly eyeing startups with the technology, and Toronto-based autonomous-trucking startup Waabi recently launched with some major backers of its own. Embark has some Canadian roots: it’s backed by OMERS Ventures, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is an anchor investor in a private-investment-in-public-equity deal that could yield US$200 million for Embark. Co-founders Alex Rodrigues and Brandon Moak met while studying at the University of Waterloo. But U.S.-based Embark said that it is focused exclusively on the local market, as its rivals like Plus and TuSimple look to China.
