Mobileye, the Israeli self-driving tech firm purchased by Intel in 2017 has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, amid one of the most challenging years for the tech IPO market in nearly two decades.
The company, which produces adaptive cruise control and lane change assistance technology in driverless cars, as well as driver assistance technology in manually driven cars, was originally expected to be valued at over $50 billion.
But soaring inflation and other adverse market conditions have led Intel to reevaluate the company’s evaluation at around $30 billion, a Bloomberg report said.
Still, a $30 billion evaluation would make Mobileye’s IPO one of the biggest to take place in the US this year.
According to Reuters, public listings in the US have raised just over $7 billion so far this year, compared to a whopping $154 billion throughout 2021.
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A successful IPO could also encourage other big companies that have postponed their IPOs earlier this year to make the next step. Such companies, according to Reuters, include Instacart, Reddit and ServiceTitan.
An autonomous test vehicle, powered by Mobileye, in Paris. December 2021. (Mobileye)
Filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 30, Mobileye presented its increased revenue over the years.
“We have experienced significant growth since our founding. For 2021, 2020, and 2019, our revenue was $1.4 billion, $967 million, and $879 million, respectively, representing year-over-year growth of 43%,” the statement read.
The company said it would use some of the funds raised from the IPO to pay back debts.
Tech news site Engadget cited Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger as saying the company intends to use some of the proceeds to grow by building more chip factories.
According to Reuters, Mobileye’s listing is one of Gelsinger’s broader strategies to transform Intel and its core business amid stiff competition in the chip-making industry from companies Nvidia Corp and Qualcomm Inc.
