Two Los Angeles electric vehicle (EV) companies with very different products went public in the past couple of weeks by different methods with different results.
Bird Global Inc. last week made good on its promise to take its electric scooters public via a reverse merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Switchback II Corp.
At the time it was announced, the deal valued Bird at $2.3 billion — down about half a billion dollars from its valuation before the coronavirus crisis, which has taken a toll on its business. On Friday, Nov. 5, the completed transaction generated about $414 million for the Santa Monica firm.
Shares on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “BRDS” opened at $8.87 but have since declined by nearly 12% to $7.84 at close on Friday.
On the other end of the spectrum, Irvine-based Rivian Automotive Inc., which makes electric trucks, had a blockbuster debut on the Nasdaq under the ticker “RIVN” on Wednesday, raising $11.9 billion in the seventh biggest U.S. initial public offering of all time.
Shares on Wednesday opened at $107.80 and closed on Friday up more than 20% at $129.95.
Meanwhile, yet another Los Angeles EV maker, Biliti Electric, has made another move toward a public listing by securing a $400 million PIPE investment commitment from Luxembourg-based GEM Global Yield LLC SCS that will take the form of a Share Subscription Facility and become available when the company goes public.
Founded only this year, the company plans to make its U.S. debut at the AutoMobility event in Los Angeles this month, showcasing its GMW Taskman, an electric vehicle with SmartSwapp battery technology and a certified range of 110 miles that is designed for commercial last-mile deliveries.
Here’s what else Los Angeles-area tech companies got up to recently:
Funding
- On the heels of raising $75 million less than four months ago, Mythical Games, a Los Angeles-based next-generation gaming technology studio creating universal gaming ecosystems around playable NFTs, has closed a $150 million Series C led by Andreessen Horowitz, bringing its valuation to $1.25 billion.
- Los Angeles plant-based chicken brand Daring Foods Inc. has raised a $65 million Series C that will help expand its product into 3,000 Walmart stores nationally.
- AppliedVR Inc., a Van Nuys company that uses virtual reality-based treatments to help address chronic pain, has raised another $36 million in series B funding, bringing its total financing to $71 million and setting the company up for rapid growth as it prepares for its decision from the FDA on its first de novo submission.
- Irvine-based Huckleberry Labs Inc., which makes an app that pairs data science, pediatric sleep experts and AI to help navigate parenting challenges, has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding led by Morningside Ventures.
- Afterparty, the Los Angeles company behind a Web3 platform enabling creators to directly monetize and manage NFT collector relationships, has raised $3 million in seed funding in a round led by Acrew Capital and TenOneTen Ventures.
New and improved
- Pasadena foodservice AI startup Miso Robotics Inc. has unveiled the newest model of its flagship product Flippy based on learnings and feedback from the kitchen robot’s stint at White Castle.
- Los Angeles tabletop game maker Exploding Kittens has relaunched “Happy Salmon” after acquiring the card game from North Star Games earlier this year.
