A second merger agreement with Wejo has been terminated by TKB Critical Technologies.
Special Purpose Acquisition Company TKB was created for the reverse merger – agreed before the Manchester-based connected vehicle data firm’s spectacular fall from grace, and planned for completion by 29th June – and another deal with California-based Project Energy Reimagined Acquisition Corp, completed in 2021.
Founded in 2014 and ranked sixth on our TransportTech 50 ranking late last year, Wejo was valued at $1.1 billion when it listed on the Nasdaq in the US via a reverse merger with Virtuoso Acquisition Corp in November 2021.
However its share price has crashed in recent weeks following the bombshell news that Wejo Limited was preparing to enter administration in the UK, and the company has been delisted from the Nasdaq.
As its market cap fell drastically – it currently sits at just $2.3m – the first notice to appoint administrators ran out. A second notice ran out yesterday with no sign of it having done so, or of a rescue deal.
The merger with TKB was expected to raise around $100m in cashflow for Wejo. Neither party will pay a termination fee under the ‘mutual’ agreement.
“The Wejo board and the TKB board has each determined that it is in the best interests of Wejo and the shareholders of Wejo and of TKB and the shareholders of TKB, respectively, to terminate the business combination agreement,” they said in a joint statement.
Among Wejo’s shareholders are General Motors Ventures, founder and CEO Richard Barlow, Sompo Holdings, chairman Tim Lee and Apollo Capital Management.
TKB has sold most of its sponsorship investment to Roth Capital Partners and Craig-Hallum Capital Group, while its management team is set to resign.