TAIPEI -- Taiwan's Gogoro, a leading battery-swapping electric scooter maker, announced on Thursday that it will merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a $2.35 billion deal to list in New York by early 2022 as it continues to ride the global clean energy wave.
Gogoro is one of Taiwan's most valuable startups and counts the National Development Fund, a government funding vehicle, and Temasek, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, as investors. It said at a news conference that it will merge with Poema Global Holdings, the SPAC, in a deal that will put Gogoro's valuation at $2.35 billion.
Through the merger, Gogoro -- which is seen by some as the scooter version of Tesla -- will raise $550 million, including a private investment in public equity. That will bring in new strategic investors, including key iPhone assembler Foxconn Technology Group and Indonesia's GoTo. The latter was formed by a merger between Gojek, which provides ride-hailing and other services, and Tokopedia, an e-commerce company.
The merged Gogoro-Poema Global entity will list on the Nasdaq by the first quarter of 2022.
Horace Luke, Gogoro's co-founder and chief executive, told a news conference in Taipei that when Gogoro was founded back in 2011, "No one knew how to do battery swapping systems and no one talked about electric vehicles -- there wasn't even Tesla's Model S yet."
CEO Horace Luke announced Gogoro's listing plan during a press conference in Taipei on Sept. 16. (Photo by Lauly Li ) Luke said listing on the Nasdaq has always been Gogoro's aim: "We can't wait to bring our 10 years of knowledge and technology to a bigger global stage." He revealed that $550 million will be allocated for research and development, and for global market expansion and operations.
Gogoro launched its first scooter in 2015, and describes itself as a technology company offering connected technologies for two-wheel electric mobility solutions. Before Gogoro, Luke was chief innovation officer at HTC, a Taiwanese smartphone maker.
Earlier in the year, Gogoro partnered with China's Dachangjiang Group (DCJ) -- a gas-powered two-wheel vehicle maker -- and Yadea -- a leading electric two-wheel vehicle maker -- in order to introduce Gogoro's battery swapping technology to China. The company also expanded its global footprint to Europe a few years ago and it announced earlier this year its plan to enter India.
Luke said he expects Gogoro to reach half a dozen Chinese cities next year, and to be present in New Delhi in the second half of 2022.
Foxconn, an aggressive entrant into the electric vehicle industry, signed a memorandum of understanding with Gogoro in June for a strategic technological and production partnership. Collaboration will include battery swapping and component manufacturing, the companies said.
Gogoro said it has generated over $1 billion in accumulated revenue, and has more than 410,000 battery swapping subscribers, but has yet to turn a profit.