Wejo Limited, a leader in connected vehicle data, and Virtuoso Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination. This transaction will support Wejo’s vision of building the manufacturer-agnostic industry standard in connected vehicle data, creating applications across multiple marketplaces and enriching lives around the globe. Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company will operate under the Wejo name.
Wejo is a leader in the fast-growing landscape of connected vehicle data
Every day, Wejo collects in near-real-time 14.6 billion data points and analyzes 66 million journeys across a network of 10.7 million live vehicles from a supply base of over 50 million connected vehicles. Wejo expects its connected vehicle network to expand significantly, with nearly half of all vehicles globally expected to be connected vehicles by the end of this decade. Unlike collectors of legacy vehicle data, which aggregate historical batch data, Wejo provides the capability to source live data directly from integrated vehicle sensors across multiple major auto manufacturers and auto part suppliers (“OEMs” and “Tier 1s”), allowing for near-real-time collection and analysis. Wejo’s cloud platform aggregates and normalizes data, creating standardized outputs across vehicles that deliver unique insights to data providers and data consumers. Wejo is building the industry standard that is manufacturer-agnostic, partnering with some of the world’s largest and most significant auto manufacturers and tier one suppliers.
Wejo’s position as a global leader in connected vehicle data is highlighted by:
- Wejo’s data set being the only truly proprietary connected vehicle data set in the market
- Engagement with 17 OEMs and Tier 1s
- 9.1+ trillion data points collected to date, or 5 petabytes of information
- 44.4 billion journeys mapped to date and 354 billion miles curated
- A supply base of 50+ million connection-ready vehicles including 10.7 million live vehicles
- 24 patents pending plus one granted
- 274 customer and partner agreements
Richard Barlow, CEO and Founder of Wejo, said, “The team at Virtuoso champions our vision to transform connected vehicle data into data for good, and we are proud to establish the market standard for collecting and aggregating that data. Insights developed by our data will make mobility safer, smarter, and more sustainable. Driven by our marketplace solutions for customers and SaaS solutions for OEM and Tier 1 partners, we expect rapid growth in revenues over the next several years.”
Wejo’s mission of data for good is an integral part of its business. With insights derived from high quality in-journey connected vehicle data, Wejo is addressing today’s and tomorrow’s critical travel challenges such as EV infrastructure design and efficiency, traffic management, road safety and maintenance, fleet management, diagnostics and more.
Wejo has a diverse and growing customer base in traffic management and advertising, and it is actively expanding into new marketplaces, including fleet management services, usage-based insurance, remote diagnostics, roadside assistance, car sharing, and payments. With 65 percent of existing customers buying additional products or services and a 98 percent customer retention rate, Wejo is well-positioned within the industry to continue its growth and expansion across current and future marketplaces. By 2030, Wejo estimates a Connected Vehicle Data Market of $500 billion and a Serviceable Addressable Market of $61 billion driven by projections of over 600 million connected vehicles worldwide.
Barlow continued, “The connected vehicle is becoming an increasingly indispensable piece of technology, ever-present and ever-useful in our daily lives, and our innovative platform revolutionizes the way data is collected by plugging directly into the source, which creates unprecedented in-journey insight. This transaction will accelerate our growth plans through expansion across geographies and our addressable markets, which are significant. We are excited to have found a partner in Virtuoso who understands the potential of our business as we take this step forward in an important and burgeoning market.”
Jeffrey D. Warshaw, Chairman and CEO of Virtuoso Acquisition Corp, said, “Wejo is uniquely positioned to set the industry standard and realize the extraordinary potential in connected vehicle data, and we are confident that Wejo’s innovative platform, strong leadership and proprietary data sets will set the company apart as the market for connected vehicles and their data continues to grow. We are excited to partner with Richard and the Wejo team, and we look forward to supporting their transition to becoming a publicly traded company.”
Transaction Overview
Pursuant to the transaction, Virtuoso will combine with Wejo at an enterprise value of $800 million, which implies an estimated $1.1 billion pro forma equity value. Wejo’s existing shareholders are rolling 100% of their existing equity into the combined company and will own approximately 64% of the issued and outstanding shares immediately following closing of the business combination, assuming no redemptions by Virtuoso’s public stockholders.
The transaction is expected to deliver approximately $330 million of gross proceeds, composed of Virtuoso’s $230 million cash held in trust, assuming no redemptions by Virtuoso’s public stockholders, and a fully committed $100 million PIPE priced at $10.00 per share with participation from lead strategic investors including Palantir Technologies Inc. and General Motors. Additional strategic investors have expressed interest in participating in the PIPE for up to an incremental $25 million within the next 30 days and are in continuing negotiations with the parties.
Cash proceeds from the transaction will fully fund Wejo’s five-year plan and position the company to execute on all of its strategic objectives, including acceleration of OEM onboarding, continued rollout of new offerings and services for connected vehicle customers and further expansion into new geographies and in-demand marketplaces. The company will be well capitalized with an estimated $300 million cash at closing and $32 million of debt.
The Board of Directors of Virtuoso and the Board of Directors of Wejo have each unanimously approved the proposed transaction, which is expected to close during the second half of 2021, subject to Virtuoso shareholder approval and customary closing conditions.
