The merger will allow the industrial automation company to become a publicly listed company
The combined company will operate as Bright Machines. (Credit: Adam Radosavljevic from Pixabay)
Industrial automation startup Bright Machines has signed an agreement to merge with a special purpose acquisition company SCVX in a $1.1bn deal.
The merger will allow the San Francisco-headquartered company to become a publicly listed company.
The combined company will operate as Bright Machines after the expected completion of the transaction in the second half of 2021.
Through the merger, Bright Machines is expected to gain up to $435m in gross cash proceeds, including $230m of cash held in trust from SCVX.
XN, Hudson Bay Master Fund, SB Management, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group, Fidelity Management & Research and Alyeska Investment Group are the PIPE investors who have committed an investment of $205m.
Bright Machines CEO and co-founder Amar Hanspal said: “At Bright Machines, our mission has been clear from the start: to bring software-defined intelligence down to the factory floor and enable our customers to effortlessly modernize their manufacturing operations.
“Our industrial automation platform, powered by proprietary software and AI-driven solutions, allows even the most traditional manufacturing companies to quickly and easily deploy flexible automation solutions at scale.
“We believe that our technology represents a big leap in the transformation of manufacturing, as companies adapt to growing consumer demand, intensifying competition and the refactoring of global supply chains to improve resiliency and sustainability.”
By integrating proprietary software with adaptive hardware to automate repetitive tasks, Bright Machines claims to offer an innovative approach to manufacturing automation.
Founded in 2018, the company currently employs more than 500 people and operates research and development (R&D) centres in the US and Israel. The company also has additional field operations in the US, Mexico, China, and Poland.
The industrial automation company claims to have 25 global, blue-chip customers spread across various industries, including network infrastructure, data centres, automotive, consumer products, medical devices, and industrial equipment.