Graf Industrial completed the merger with Velodyne Lidar in a $1.8bn deal.

Graf industrial, a blank-check company, completed the merger with Velodyne Lidar, a maker of sensors for self-driving vehicles, in a $1.8bn deal. The transaction supported by a $150m committed PIPE and is expected to leave Velodyne with approximately $200m of cash on its balance sheet. "We are tremendously excited by the opportunity to partner with David Hall and Velodyne. The leadership team, led by Dr. Anand Gopalan and Drew Hamer, has done an outstanding job in preparing the Company for the inflection point of lidar and becoming a public company. We're especially excited by Velodyne's potential to greatly improve vehicle safety by augmenting ADAS systems and help leading e-commerce companies and others realize autonomous last-mile delivery," James Graf, Graf CEO.