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Cepton

LidarUSA
🤝 Acquired
Peak $1.5 BillionToday
~-90%
from peak
  1. 🦄
    Became a unicorn
    2021
  2. 📈
    Peak valuation
    $1.5 Billion ’21
  3. 💔
    Became a Unitard
    2022
  4. 💸
    Last valuation
    ~$150M
Current status
Majority acquired by Koito; small-cap

How it happened

Cepton is a lidar maker for automotive and smart-infrastructure applications. It reached a roughly $1.5B valuation and went public via SPAC in early 2022. As lidar-sector enthusiasm collapsed, its shares fell sharply below $1B. Japanese auto-lighting firm Koito, a key partner and investor, took a majority stake, leaving Cepton a small-cap roughly 90% below its peak.

Source: De-SPAC 2022