A view of the exterior of the Nasdaq market site, in Times Square, in New York City, April 25, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Shannon Stapleton.

CTech – The Israeli autotech industry chalked up another significant merger with an American SPAC on Thursday with the announcement that Arbe Robotics Ltd. is set to join forces with Nasdaq-listed Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc. (ITAC). The combined company, valued at $723 million, will operate under the “Arbe Robotics Ltd.” name and the “ARBE” ticker symbol.

Founded in 2015, Arbe developed the world’s first ultra-high resolution 4D Imaging Radar that has 12x better resolution than other radars currently in the market. Its technology can alert autopilot, emergency braking, or steering features of objects in the way in order to avoid them at the right moment, bridging the automotive sensor gap that caused the recent advanced driver assist systems’ accidents.

ITAC is a blank check company sponsored by Texas Ventures, a leading technology, and venture capital firm.

Arbe’s proprietary chipset features a channel array count with 48 receiving and 48 transmitting RF channels, a dedicated processor chip, and AI-based post-processing. The company already has agreements with auto manufacturers and part makers who are currently designing their next-generation radars based on Arbe’s technology, which can be used in an array of additional applications including robotaxis, delivery pods, commercial and industrial vehicles, and more.

The Tel Aviv-based company founded by Kobi Marenko (CEO), Noam Arkind (CTO) and Oz Fixman (COO), had previously secured $55 million private investors including Canaan Partners Israel, iAngels, 360 Capital Partners, Catalyst CEL, AI Alliance, BAIC Capital, MissionBlue Capital, Eyal Ofer’s O.G. Tech, Maniv Mobility, Taya Ventures and OurCrowd. It employs around 65 people, with offices in Israel, the US, and China.

“We expect that the proposed combination of Arbe and Industrial Tech will allow us to bring our vision to reality, creating an autonomous future driven by outstanding, truly safe, commercially viable 4D Imaging technology. We are extremely excited by the opportunity to partner with ITAC, and we expect that ITAC’s significant experience in building and investing in disruptive technology companies will help bring our groundbreaking technology to a broader market,” Arbe’s CEO Kobi Marenko said.

“Arbe is the market leader with a first-mover advantage in ultra-high resolution 4D Imaging Radar technology. The company is at an exciting inflection point, with a technology platform that is an order of magnitude superior in terms of performance and efficiency,” Scott Crist, chairman and CEO of Industrial Tech, commented. ”We expect that Arbe’s projected high-growth and high-margin fabless business model, with outsourced manufacturing, will provide a high level of scalability, positioning the company for commercial success in the automotive, industrial, and new mobility markets. We are very excited about the opportunity to partner with the company’s leadership team, who have a demonstrated track record as public company executives, and who have built a technology business poised for market leadership and scale.”

The transaction is further supported by a $100 million fully-committed PIPE, anchored by leading investors including M&G Investment Management, Varana Capital, Texas Ventures, Eyal Waldman, and other investors. All current Arbe shareholders will convert the entirety of their pre-closing equity holdings into ordinary shares of the combined company.

In an interview with CTech last year, Marenko said that Arbe is trying to solve the biggest issues currently holding back autonomous driving. “The main advantage of our technology, beyond the fact that it can work in almost any condition, is the price. We are talking about $100-$150 for a radar per car. There are several Tier 1 companies that have selected our chipset for their next-generation radar and we also have several joint R&D projects. We can’t provide any details on any deals at this time, but leading car manufacturers are certainly planning on using our product.”