Auto knowledge developer Wejo, backed by Normal Motors, will go public by means of a reverse merger with blank-check firm Virtuoso Acquisition Corp. in a deal that values the British firm at $800 million together with debt, the businesses mentioned on Friday.

The deal will elevate $330 million in proceeds for Wejo, the businesses mentioned. That features $230 million from Particular-Function Acquisition Firm (SPAC) Virtuoso and one other $100 million known as Personal Funding in Public Fairness (PIPE).

Wejo CEO and founder Richard Barlow mentioned institutional buyers make up many of the PIPE, however declined to determine the corporations concerned. A further $25 million could possibly be raised throughout the subsequent month as talks proceed with different potential buyers, he mentioned.

Buyers within the PIPE embrace GM, which beforehand invested in Wejo, in addition to knowledge administration firm Palantir Applied sciences Inc, which billionaire Peter Thiel co-founded, Wejo and Virtuoso mentioned. The sizes of their investments or stakes weren’t disclosed.

The $800 million enterprise worth for Wejo implies an estimated $1.1 billion professional forma fairness worth.

“The longer term is knowledge and this can be a firm that is sitting there proper in the course of this unbelievable wave of information that is coming,” Virtuoso CEO Jeffrey Warshaw mentioned in an interview. “All this chance to monetize it, it is virtually limitless.”

The merger with Virtuoso is predicted to shut within the second half of the yr, the businesses mentioned. The brand new firm will commerce underneath the image “WEJO” however the inventory alternate has not been decided.

SPACs are shell corporations that elevate funds to accumulate a non-public firm with the aim of taking it public, permitting such targets to sidestep a conventional preliminary public providing (IPO) to enter public markets.

The valuation is down from the greater than $2 billion that sources informed Reuters in March Wejo had hoped to realize.

The SPAC market has cooled off just lately amid fears of frothy valuations and final month the SEC advised warrants issued by SPACs ought to be accounted for as liabilities as an alternative of fairness devices.

Manchester-based Wejo organizes knowledge from virtually 11 million automobiles linked to the Web by means of embedded modems for such purchasers as GM, Hyundai Motor Co. and Daimler AG.

Automakers can use the info generated from that connection to develop apps and providers for fleets, good cities and particular person customers, together with promoting, fleet administration, insurance coverage, distant diagnostics, roadside help, parking availability and site visitors info.

“Getting the data-software piece proper goes to be important for making the following finest product,” Palantir world head of enterprise growth Kevin Kawasaki mentioned.

Based in 2014, Wejo, which stands for “we journey,” has raised virtually $200 million in response to PitchBook from such buyers as GM, which acquired a big stake in 2019, German auto provider Hella, DIP Capital and the British authorities.

Wejo estimates that by 2030, the linked car knowledge market can be price $500 billion, creating a possibility for income streams and extra providers for automakers and their clients, in addition to better effectivity for corporations in product growth. Wejo’s expertise platform, ADEPT, permits automakers to arrange the info collected in these automobiles.

On Feb. 1, Wejo’s Israeli rival Otonomo mentioned it could go public in a SPAC merger with Software program Acquisition Group Inc II.