Self-driving truck startup TuSimple files for U.S. IPO (updated)

Domaine Costa Lazaridi SA

23/03/2021 20:40

(Adds details, background on TuSimple, autonomous driving
industry)
    March 23 (Reuters) - Self-driving truck startup TuSimple
Holdings Inc filed for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) on
Tuesday, joining a clutch of companies looking to capitalize on
rising investor interest in the sector.
    The company did not disclose the number of shares it plans
to offer to investors or the price range for its offering. It
filed for an IPO of $100 million, a placeholder amount that is
expected to change when the company reveals the terms for its
offering.
    San Diego, California-based TuSimple, backed by Volkswagen's
 VOWG_p.DE  commercial trucking unit Traton SE  8TRA.DE  and
United Parcel Service Inc  UPS.N , is developing self-driving
trucks with Navistar International Corp  NAV.N  that are slated
to start production in 2024.
    The company's plans to go public come as dozens of startups,
automakers and large technology companies accelerate work on
self-driving car systems.
    A series of other companies that operate in the self-driving
space have also sought to go public in recent months, including 
Innoviz Technologies, Velodyne  VLDR.O , Luminar Technologies
 LAZR.O , Aeva  AEVA.N  and Ouster  OUST.N . 
    Founded in 2015, TuSimple was under the scanner of the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States due to its
ties with China, the Wall Street Journal reported https://www.wsj.com/articles/autonomous-trucking-startup-tusimple-plans-to-go-public-in-march-11614230411
 earlier. But the committee did not pursue any action against
the company. 
    TuSimple's revenue rose to $1.8 million in the year ended
Dec. 31, 2020, from $710,000 a year earlier, its filing showed.
    Net loss attributable to common stockholders widened to
$198.8 million in 2020, from a loss of $145 million a year
earlier.
    Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan are the lead
underwriters for the offering.
    

 (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sohini Podder in Bengaluru;
Editing by Aditya Soni)
 ((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))