Tritium, an Australia-based vehicle charging technology developer backed by corporates Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Varley Group and Cigna, has agreed a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation II (DCRN).
The combined company will retain Tritium’s brand and will take up the Nasdaq Capital Market listing DCRN secured through a $350m initial public offering in January this year. It will receive approximately $403m in gross proceeds through the transaction, which valued Tritium at $1.2bn pre-merger.
Founded in 2001, Tritium is developing and manufacturing direct current, fast-charging technology for electric vehicles. It claims to have facilitated more than 2.7 million charging sessions representing over 55 GW hours of energy.
Jane Hunter, chief executive of Tritium, said: “We plan to expand to three global manufacturing facilities, expedite product development, grow our global sales and service operations teams and so much more.
“This agreement funds that growth plan, enabling us to expand our business operations, enhance our products and provide even more services to our customers.”
Tritium secured A$45m ($31.2m) in private placement debt financing from health insurance provider Cigna in June 2020. It had said in August 2019 it would raise $20.4m from undisclosed new and existing investors.
Fuelling equipment provider Gilbarco Veeder-Root paid $39m for a 19.3% stake in Tritium 2018, according to Australian Financial Review, which reported the company had pulled in $90m of funding across several rounds in the previous two years.
Private investor Brian Flannery had supplied $7.9m for Tritium in August 2017, following $3.8m in equity funding in March that year. Trevor St Baker and his St Baker Energy Innovation Fund are also among its existing investors, as is industrial manufacturer Varley Group.