Amazon Eyes Investing In Autonomous Truck Firm Plus

Amazon has put in an order for 1,000 autonomous driving systems from Plus, a self-driving tech startup, Bloomberg reported.

The eCommerce giant also got the rights to buy as much as a 20 percent stake, Plus revealed in a regulatory filing, per Bloomberg. Amazon will now have the right to buy shares of Plus for around 46 cents per share, which comes out to 20 percent as a stake based on Plus’ shares outstanding prior to its merger with Hennessy Capital Investment Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Plus is backed by Sequoia Capital and is said to be worth $3.3 billion, according to Bloomberg. It has added $500 million in proceeds to help its expansion.

Recently, Plus was able to raise $150 million from what is termed a private investment in public equity (PIPE), Bloomberg reported. BlackRock and D.E. Shaw participated.

Plus is among the companies attempting to advance long-haul trucking with new driverless tech. SF Holding Co., based in China, has been working with Plus on trucks that can cover 932 miles per day, according to Bloomberg.

In addition, Plus has said it plans to work with China FAW Group on the mass production of jointly developed autonomous trucks this quarter, Bloomberg reported.

Plus has been attracting more investors and raised $200 million in a funding round from Guotai Junan International Holdings and Citic Private Equity Funds Management Co. in February, according to Bloomberg. In addition, there was another $220 million raised from investors co-led by FountainVest Partners and ClearVue Partners in March.

PYMNTS reported that Plus went public earlier this year via a SPAC, with the merger going through for $3.3 billion. Plus, which used to be known as Plus.ai, was able to keep expanding on the global stage and working with new technology. That tech taps advanced sensing technologies to offer a solution that provides 360-degree sensing.