Luminar’s lidar business sold to MicroVision after bankruptcy auction

On Tuesday, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of Luminar’s lidar—Light Detection and Ranging—business to MicroVision for $33 million. The approval finalized the transaction despite a last-minute offer from an unidentified party that apparently exceeded the leading bid. This late offer kicked off rapid-fire meetings between Luminar’s remaining leadership, its lawyers, a special transaction committee, and the board. However, the court rejected this mystery bid, which was likely submitted by Luminar founder Austin Russell, because of legal “infirmities” in the offer. The decision allowed the deal with MicroVision, which was received during an auction on Monday, to proceed. The transaction comes after Luminar slid into bankruptcy.

MicroVision, which is based in Redmond, Washington, will acquire Luminar’s lidar technology and remaining staff. Glen DeVos, the CEO of MicroVision, plans to integrate the technology and engineering team to bolster the company’s automotive sensing capabilities. DeVos explained that MicroVision has a strong software team and short-range lidar team, but lacked the long-range sensing capability crucial for automotive applications. He hopes to use Luminar’s existing commercial engagements, such as its contract with Volvo, as a springboard to expand beyond MicroVision’s current markets in industrial use, security, and defense. DeVos also intends to review and salvage existing commercial contracts that may have deteriorated. “I’ve been in the automotive industry a long time. I have experience where contractual relationships have gone off the rails, and basically, worked very hard to put those back together. We’re going to look at every single one of those. We’re not going to assume any of them are beyond saving,” DeVos said.

The bankruptcy judge also approved the sale of Luminar’s semiconductor division to Quantum Computing Inc. During the hearing, lawyers and Rich Morgner, a managing director at Jeffries, disclosed details of a previous mystery bidder that had attempted to form a bid starting January 12. According to Morgner, that bid was “problematic from the jump” due to opaque funding sources. The financing syndicate reportedly involved family money, a European family office, and an SPV—Special Purpose Vehicle—registered in the Caymans. Morgner noted that the Caymans SPV showed a large round number of funds on a brokerage statement, which seemed suspicious because it did not show the historical ebbs and flows of securities, while proof of funds from the European family office was never provided.

Why it matters

The sale marks the end of Luminar as an independent supplier in the autonomous vehicle era, while providing MicroVision with the long-range sensing capabilities it previously lacked.