Microvast, Otonomo, Nexters
Microvast, a Leading Innovator of EV Battery Technologies, to Merge with Tuscan Holdings Corp. $THCB
Microvast is a leading global provider of next-generation battery technologies for commercial and specialty electric vehicles participating in a $30 billion commercial EV total addressable market. It has an established, and industry-leading, portfolio of battery technologies that out-perform its competitors on battery life, charging times, safety and total cost of ownership. These field-proven technologies generated over $100 million in 2020 revenue, and have been deployed worldwide in nearly 30K vehicles across many EV types, with over 3.8 billion miles traveled to date. Transaction to fund capacity expansion to 9 gigawatt hours by 2022, positioning the company to capitalize on its signed contracts with total value of over $1.5 billion.
PIPE anchor investors include strategic partner Oshkosh Corporation as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Koch Strategic Platforms and InterPrivate Estimated pre-money equity value of $2.1 billion and post-transaction equity value of approximately $3 billion, inclusive of over $800 million of expected proceeds based upon current assumptions. Merger provides up to $822 million in gross cash proceeds to the combined company, including $282 million of cash held by Tuscan in trust assuming no redemptions and an oversubscribed $540 million fully committed common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share.
Microvast’s battery solutions are powered by its broad, proprietary intellectual property portfolio that spans all four major battery components and is fully owned and protected by more than 550 patents. Due to its highly differentiated, vertically integrated R&D and industrialization system, we believe Microvast delivers faster product development, tighter cost control and greater customization to its customers than does its competitors.
Otonomo, Leading Platform and Marketplace for Vehicle Data, to SPAC with Software Acquisition Group Inc. II
Otonomo is the premier one-stop shop for vehicle data. Since its founding in 2015, Otonomo has built a vehicle data platform and marketplace that now fuels an ecosystem of 16 OEMs, fleets and more than 100 service providers. The platform ingests more than 4 billion data points per day from over 40 million global connected vehicles. Otonomo’s platform allows automotive OEMs the opportunity to create new revenue streams by enabling the utilization of the vast amounts of data vehicles generate on a daily basis and that OEMs are required to store and maintain.
The transaction with Software Acquisition Group Inc. II $SAII implies an equity value of approximately $1.4 billion and Otonomo is expected to have approximately $307 million of cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet, assuming no redemptions by Software Acquisition’s stockholders. A fully committed $172.5 million PIPE comprised of $142.5 million primary and $30 million secondary shares and approximately $25 million of cash currently on hand. Cash proceeds from the transaction will be used to fund growth of the combined company, accelerating go-to-market strategy, strengthening leadership position and unlocking new use cases and end markets.
The PIPE is anchored by institutional investors Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, BNP Paribas Asset Management Energy Transition Fund and Senvest Management LLC, with support from strategic investors Dell Technologies Capital, and Hearst Ventures.
In addition to its proprietary data platform, Otonomo has developed a robust suite of SaaS offerings that provide data consumers with additional capabilities and vertically specific applications. Privacy by design and neutrality are at the core of Otonomo’s platform, which enables GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy-regulation-compliant solutions using both personal and aggregate data.
Otonomo vehicle data is being utilized by organizations and businesses across diverse areas, including, but not limited to fleet management, insurance, in-vehicle management, emergency services, mapping, electric vehicle (EV) management, subscription-based services, parking, predictive maintenance, in-vehicle services, traffic management and smart cities.
Nexters Global, the Owner of Blockbuster Mobile Game Hero Wars, to Go Public Via Merger With Kismet Acquisition One SPAC
Nexters was founded as an independent gaming studio in 2010 by Andrey Fadeev and Boris Gertsovsky, the early pioneers of social and mobile game development in Russia. Based in Cyprus since 2017, Nexters has rapidly grown into a top-5 independent European game developer by net bookings.
The Company’s flagship product is its blockbuster Hero Wars mid-core RPG franchise, played in over 100 countries and available across all key platforms. Hero Wars has delivered 8.5x MAU growth to 5.4 million users and 4x paying users growth in the last two years. The Company is planning to launch three new titles in 2021 in casual genres, leveraging its proven expertise in mobile gaming and digital marketing to engage new audiences and expand its footprint across key global markets.
Nexters has delivered best-in-class profitability and growth, scaling its net bookings 10x in two years to $318 million in 2020, while staying well-diversified across key gaming markets. As of 2020, 35% of the Company’s net bookings came from the United States, 23% from Europe, and 19% from Asia. The growth is expected to continue throughout 2021-23, with 2023 Net Bookings projected to reach $562 million and Management EBITDA expected to come in at $138 million for 2021 and increase to $201 million by 2023.
Nexters aims to become the leading consolidator in the gaming space in Russian speaking countries, Eastern Europe and beyond, capitalizing on the significant opportunity in the market while deploying its proven value creation playbook to support the companies it acquires. The Company will benefit from its unique connections to game developers throughout the region, the M&A expertise of Kismet, and its strategic partnership with the founders of Playrix, the second largest mobile game developer in the world by revenue5, who became shareholders in Nexters in 2018.