Embark Technology, an early mover in autonomous trucking that ran out of cash to get to industrial production, said Thursday it will go private in a $71 million all-cash merger with Applied Intuition Inc. Upon completion of the merger, Embark will stop to trade on the Nasdaq.
Embark went public in November 2021 in a reverse merger with an enterprise value of $5 billion.
Embark name will survive
The Embark name will survive as a subsidiary of Applied Intuition, a Mountain View, California-based tooling and software provider for autonomous vehicle development.
Embark’s autonomous software stack uses machine learning for driving perception. The corporate intended to make it available for integration by major truck manufacturers. It delivered a Kenworth T-680 integrated with its software to Knight-Swift in December.
Since its founding in 2016, Embark has amassed greater than 1.5 million miles of supervised autonomous highway driving. It’s retiring its fleet of 24 trucks as a part of the transaction.
Integrating Embark’s tools
Applied plans to integrate Embark’s internal tools, data and software assets to further improve its offerings for patrons within the trucking and automotive industries.
“This acquisition should enable us to advance our products and solve more specific, complex challenges for our customers,” Qasar Younis, Applied Intuition co-founder and CEO, said in a news release. “We respect the work Embark has achieved within the autonomous vehicle industry and sit up for leveraging their expertise to raised serve our global customer base.”
Embark in March laid off 70% of its employees and began to look for tactics to proceed. Co-founder Brandon Moak left the corporate in April, leaving CEO Alex Rodrigues to wind down operations in San Francisco.
‘Exciting recent chapter’ for Embark
“Today marks an exciting recent chapter for Embark,” Rodrigues said. “I would really like to thank all past and present employees for his or her contributions over the past seven years. I appreciate every thing they’ve done for the corporate, and I cannot wait to see where Applied takes the technology we’ve built.”
An unknown variety of Embark employees will join Applied Intuition as a part of the merger, which is predicted to shut in August. If Embark shareholders fail to approve the transaction or it fails for several other reasons, Embark would pay a $3 million breakup fee to Applied Intuition, in keeping with a Securities and Exchange Commission 8-K filing.
In response to Law 360, investors in a category motion suit that claimed Emberk and Northern Genesis miscategorized certain shares last week asked a California federal judge to offer an initial green light to a $2.5 million deal resolving claims due to the “very high risk” that Embark might dissolve or seek bankruptcy protection.
Related articles:
Embark Trucks shedding 70% of employees, winding down business
Knight-Swift takes the wheel of Embark-equipped autonomous truck
Embark autonomous and BYD electric trucks demo the long run
Way forward for Supply Chain
JUNE 21-22, 2023 • CLEVELAND, OH • IN-PERSON EVENT
The best minds within the transportation, logistics and provide chain industries will share insights, predict future trends and showcase emerging technology the FreightWaves way–with engaging discussions, rapid-fire demos, interactive sponsor kiosks and more.