Electric chassis maker Xos Trucks Inc. is in talks to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that could lead to a valuation of $2 billion, Reuters reported Monday.
North Hollywood, California-based Xos makes a customizable chassis with the wiring, battery mounting and axle-mounting systems for medium- and heavy-duty electric trucks. Its customers so far include United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), armored truck company Loomis, and Japan’s Hino Motors Ltd., a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp.
Xos raised $20 million last August to help meet demand for underpinning medium-duty regional and last-mile delivery trucks with its X-Platform. Hino was the first Class 8 truck maker to purchase the X-Platform.
NextGen Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: NGAC) is in discussions with investors about raising financing for the SPAC deal through a private investment in public equity (PIPE), Reuters said. If successful, an agreement could be announced as early as this month.
Neither Xos nor NextGen would comment to Reuters. Several attempts by FreightWaves to reach Xos were unanswered.
NextGen raised $350 million in an initial public offering (IPO) last October. It formed a shell company whose sole purpose was to merge with an existing company and bring it public. SPACs typically have two years to identify a target and conduct due diligence. The path to public trading is typically a fraction of the time of a traditional IPO.
So far in 2021, there have been 124 SPACs created with nearly $36.8 billion invested, according to SPAC Insider. In 2020, 248 SPACs raised $83 billion.
Xos would follow a host of electric vehicle startups including Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA), Hyliion Holdings (NYSE: HYLN) and Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: RIDE) to go public via SPAC.
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