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Dec 14, 2022 - Economy

Quanergy goes bankrupt, less than a year after going public

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Illustration of a hand drawing a line between the Chinese and U.S. flags

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Quanergy Systems, a Silicon Valley developer of solid-state lidar sensors, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Why it matters: This is one of the SPAC market's fastest fails, which is really saying something.

  • Quanergy went public just 10 months ago via a SPAC sponsored by China's CITIC Capital, at an implied $1.4 billion equity value.
  • Now it's prepping a fire sale and its CEO is set to "retire" at year-end.

VC history: Prior to its SPAC merger, Quanergy had raised around $325m from Newbury Ventures, Rising Tide Fund, G Squared, Manhattan Venture Partners, MicroVentures, Delphi Automotive, Daimler, Reform Ventures, Canas Capital, Trans-Pacific Technology Fund and HOF Capital.

The bottom line: The company once sought to have its solid state silicon lidar units integrated into former President Trump's border wall, although later refocused its on auto and IoT applications. But, according to bankruptcy court documents, it was hampered by supply chain issues and litigation.

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