Driverless Vehicle Company Plus Reportedly Considering IPO

Driverless truck company Plus is considering listing its operations that aren’t based in China in a U.S. IPO, Bloomberg reported this week.

The prospective listing follows a canceled SPAC deal for Plus and comes amid a dull IPO market in the U.S. Plus, which is based in Cupertino, California, will list its U.S. and European businesses in the IPO, according to Bloomberg.

A public listing for Plus would also mean more action in the IPO market, which has been largely silent this year. There were only 18 IPOs that raised around $2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2022, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital. 

That follows a blockbuster 2021, where around 400 companies went public. Concerns around interest rates, inflation and geopolitical issues are largely to blame for the lull in the public markets, which has caused other startups, such as Justworks, to put their IPO plans on pause.

If Plus goes public this year, it will follow a growing list of other auto startups that went public in the U.S. in recent years. Last year, Rivian was the largest IPO of 2021 with barely any products on the market. And several EV companies also went public through SPACs, such as EVGo and Lucid Motors.

Plus has raised more than $520 million in funding so far from investors including Sequoia Capital China and ClearVue Partners. The company is reportedly working with advisers to raise more money at a valuation of around $3 billion before a potential IPO.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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