Velodyne Lidar, Graf Industrial SPAC Merger Up For Vote Sept. 29

Velodyne Lidar and Graf Industrial Corp GRAF have set a date to vote on their merger.

What Happened: Shareholders will vote Sept. 29 to approve Velodyne Lidar going public via a SPAC.

Shares will trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "VLDR" if the deal is approved.

Why It’s Important: Velodyne Lidar is one of the world’s leading lidar technology companies. The company has strategic investments with Ford Motor Company F and Baidu Inc BIDU.

Velodyne announced in a business update that it had signed additional multiyear customer agreements.

Customer agreements now account for $970 million in revenue through 2024 in the company's outlook, an increase of $130 million since the merger was announced.

Velodyne reaffirmed a revenue estimate of $101 million for fiscal 2020.

A previous outlook called for revenue to hit $680 million in fiscal 2024.

Rival lidar company Luminar, a leader in the automotive industry, is also going public via a SPAC.

Gores Metropoulos GMHI is taking Luminar public with a $3.4-billion valuation. Velodyne was valued at $1.8 billion at the time of its announced deal.

GRAF Price Action: Shares of Graf Industrial ended Tuesday's session down 2.29% at $25.62. 

The Twinny Nargo, an autonomous freight robot with Velodyne technology. Photo courtesy of Velodyne.