Thiel-Backed Luminar to Go Public in $3.4 Billion Merger (1)

Driverless car startup Luminar Technologies Inc., backed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, is going public via a $3.4 billion merger with blank-check company Gores Metropoulos Inc., bolstering efforts to get its laser sensors onto the production lines of global automakers.

Investors in Gores Metropoulos cheered the deal, sending the entity’s shares up as much as 10% to $11.60 apiece, the biggest jump since March 2019. The stock traded at $11.49 at 9:33 a.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of $573 million.

The deal will be paid for with $400 million in cash from ...