- Cepton, Inc formally listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market on February 11, 2022, following the merger between Cepton Technologies Inc., and SPAC, Growth Capital Acquisition Corp (GCAC)
- Cepton’s CEO, Dr. Jun Pei rang the Nasdaq opening bell on Thursday, February 17, alongside CTO Dr. Mark McCord and members of both, Cepton Technologies and Growth Capital Acquisition Corp
- GCAC and Cepton arrived at a formal combination agreement on August 5, 2021, with the transaction valuing Cepton at an enterprise value of $1.5 billion
Cepton (NASDAQ: CPTN), a Silicon Valley innovator and leader in high-performance MMR(R) lidar solutions, held the opening bell ringing ceremony at Nasdaq on Thursday, February 17, 2022, after formally commencing trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on February 11, 2022. In recognition and celebration of this important milestone, Cepton CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. Jun Pei along with CTO and Co-founder Dr. Mark McCord rang the exchange’s opening bell alongside the company’s SPAC partners, Growth Capital Acquisition Corp.’s George Syllantavos and Akis Tsirigakis. The four individuals were also joined by several Cepton team members, as well as representatives from strategic partners, investors, and advisors to mark the momentous occasion (https://nnw.fm/sSCNa).
“By ringing the Nasdaq bell today, we will not only open trading for the day, but also open a new era of innovation driven towards the goal of making lidar a mainstream automotive sensor technology,” said Dr. Jun Pei, Cepton CEO. “I am thrilled to be joined by the physical and virtual presence of my talented colleagues and those who have supported us throughout all stages of Cepton’s growth. I’m excited about our journey ahead as a public company, and we remain steadfast in our mission of bringing safe and autonomous transportation to everyone.”
Since its founding in 2016, Cepton has rapidly become a key player in the field of ADAS (“Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems”), the largest end-market for lidar. Lidar, which stands for ‘light detection and ranging’, provides users with the ability to map surroundings as well as measure object velocity – transforming the technology into an excellent complementary sensor for partial or fully autonomous vehicles. As far back as 2015, PWC forecast that the top five automotive original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) were spending upwards of $46 billion annually on research and development on autonomous vehicles, a figure which has only grown in ensuing years (https://nnw.fm/ZeeX4). Now, a recently published study has suggested that the annual market for autonomous vehicles could expand to up to 110.1 thousand units by 2026, a majority of which are set to be equipped with lidar technology (https://nnw.fm/mp0IH). In fact, and as of January 2022, 17 automakers around the world had announced a total of 21 lidar-equipped passenger car models, either in production or set to be launched in the near future (https://nnw.fm/8gi8N).
The emerging dominance of lidar as a sensor technology in autonomous vehicles has perhaps been best reflected by the exponential rise in corporate interest within the sector. In early February 2022, fellow lidar technology provider, Velodyne Lidar Inc (NASDAQ: VLDR), witnessed its share price more than double after Amazon agreed to acquire a near 16 percent stake in the company (https://nnw.fm/m6DXp); meanwhile, the CEO of automotive giant, Volkswagen recently went on the record to state that Lidar technology was integral towards attaining ‘Level 3 autonomy’ for vehicles in the future (https://nnw.fm/NFXRT).
Cepton has long been operating at the forefront of lidar technology development, with the company’s relentless focus on lidar technology as well as its proprietary directional lidar technology, known as MMT(R) (“Micro Motion Technology”), leading Cepton and its tier-1 partner, Koito Manufacturing of Japan, to be awarded the largest-ever ADAS lidar series production award seen thus far by General Motors on July 13, 2021 (https://nnw.fm/2faPW). Shortly following news of the landmark contract, Ford Motor Company also revealed that they were engaging with Cepton and their custom LiDAR technology for some of the company’s vehicles’ advanced ADAS features.
Following the series production award, Dr. Jun Peri commented in relation to the relative merits of lidar technology, “It’s really just a huge benefit in addition to radar and camera, and becomes an entire sensor suite that will bring cars to a higher level of safety and autonomy” (https://nnw.fm/rcdCH).
Cepton Technologies’ state-of-the-art technology and robust commercial prospects were certainly at the forefront of Growth Capital Acquisition Corp’s management’s minds when opting to pursue the current business combination. The special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) arrived at a definitive business combination agreement with Cepton Technologies Inc., on August 5, 2021. The transaction valued Cepton at an enterprise value of approximately $1.5 billion on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
Lidar technology has emerged as one of the fastest growing segments within the modern automotive industry; having been awarded the largest lidar contract the industry has seen thus far and operating at the very forefront of its field, Cepton, Inc. remains remarkably well positioned to capitalize on the sector’s burgeoning growth prospects.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Cepton.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CPTN are available in the company’s newsroom at https://nnw.fm/CPTN
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