Gogoro is the latest electric vehicle company to jump on the trend of becoming public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Taiwan’s e-scooter and battery-sharing technology startup announced Thursday that it will be combined with a SPAC called Poema Global Holdings, which is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, will involve an investment by Gogoro of around $ 550 million and will value the implementation of more than $ 2.3 billion.
It’s a big step for the scooter company, which has expanded rapidly this year. In April, Gogoro announced a partnership with the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer to bring its electric scooter and battery technology to India. This was Gogoro’s most important push outside of Taiwan to date, until May, when he announced an expansion into China through two more partnerships with established local actors. Then, in June, Gogoro announced a partnership with Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn, which has been rapidly boosting electric vehicles, which allegedly “would accelerate Gogoro’s global expansion” even further.
Foxconn contributes an undisclosed amount to the so-called “Private Investment in Public Capital” portion of the SPAC merger, essentially a fundraising round that occurs simultaneously with the transaction. (The PIPE will provide a total of just over $ 250 million, while $ 345 million will come from Poema Global Holdings SPAC.) The iPhone assembler also works with startup EV Fisker Inc. and has an agreement with China’s largest private manufacturer. , Geely. It has also been developing its own EV platform for other car manufacturers to use. (At least one of his raids on electric vehicles has failed, however, as Nikkei reported this week that Foxconn has moved away from its investment in a troubled Chinese company Byton.)
Founded in 2011 by a pair of former HTC executives, Gogoro went out of stealth mode at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show where he unveiled a sleek electric scooter with two small interchangeable batteries. (In fact, it won our award for best show that year.) The company has spent the past six years executing the vision it set out during that debut: building an expansive network of battery exchange stations in Taiwan. which is easy for owners to quickly “recharge” their scooters. Gogoro takes the technology even further, letting these battery exchange stations interact with the local power grid and help power it from time to time.
The company has also played with some other ideas along the way. He has offered his two wheels for several different programs to share scooters around the world. And it also launched an e-bike “sports car” in 2020 designed to promote an all-in-one engine the company designed.