On August 26, 2025, TechStar Acquisition Corporation (TechStar, SPAC company, 07855.HK) submitted documents to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange regarding its business combination with Seyond Holdings Ltd (formerly known as Seyond Holdings Limited, target company, hereinafter referred to as "Seyond"), conducting a special purpose acquisition company merger transaction (De-SPAC), which is treated as an IPO application. Qingke Capital, CITIC Securities, and CITIC Construction Investment International (overall coordinator) serve as joint sponsors. This marks the company's second attempt following the lapse of its previous application on February 12, 2025.
Seyond has an agreed valuation of HK$11.7 billion. TechStar and Seyond have entered into investment agreements with three PIPE investors, with PIPE investment proceeds totaling approximately HK$551.3 million. The PIPE investors include:
Huangshan Construction Investment Capital under Huangshan State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, investing HK$387.5 million;
Fuze under Mr. Gong Hongjia, investing HK$156 million;
Warburg Pincus, through Zhuhai Hengqin Warburg Pincus, investing HK$78 million.
**Core Business**
Founded in 2016, Seyond is a global leader in designing, developing, and producing automotive-grade LiDAR solutions, providing LiDAR solutions for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Autonomous Driving Systems (ADS), and other automotive and non-automotive applications.
According to CIC data, Seyond delivered over 230,000 automotive-grade LiDAR units in 2024, ranking second globally by revenue from ADAS LiDAR solution sales during the track record period. As of August 15, 2025, NIO Inc. has chosen to adopt Seyond's LiDAR solutions across nine of its vehicle models.
Seyond has achieved tremendous success in product design, development, and commercialization. According to CIC, Seyond is among the first few manufacturers with commercialization records in both automotive and non-automotive solutions. The company has established mass production facilities in Suzhou, Deqing, and Pinghu, China, leveraging its mature supply chain, production, and commercialization experience in China to maintain effective control over key production and procurement processes.
Seyond has partnered with several OEMs and ADAS or ADS companies, including NIO Inc., Deeproute, Inceptio Technology, and Shaanxi Heavy Duty Automobile, which have chosen to integrate the company's LiDAR solutions into their vehicle models or ADAS systems. Seyond has begun mass production and delivery of these LiDAR solutions. During the track record period, Seyond delivered over 493,000 automotive-grade LiDAR solution sets to OEMs. Additionally, as of August 15, 2025, Seyond has secured design wins from ten other OEMs and ADAS or ADS companies (including Horizon Robotics, UISEE Technology, Pony AI, three Chinese state-owned automotive OEMs, one leading joint venture automotive company, and three other Chinese companies focusing respectively on commercial vehicles, passenger electric vehicles, and ride-hailing services), which have chosen to integrate Seyond's LiDAR solutions into their ADAS for freight, logistics, and commercial vehicle applications. Seyond has also signed cooperation agreements with multiple ADAS and ADS companies (such as YIKONG) to integrate the company's LiDAR solutions into their pipeline vehicle models or integrated ADAS for various applications including commercial vehicles, freight, and logistics. Seyond's LiDAR solutions have also been successfully integrated and applied in various non-automotive scenarios, including highways, subways, railways, and mining.
Beyond LiDAR sensor hardware, Seyond's proprietary software OmniVidi features high-resolution 3D point clouds and advanced perception algorithms, which, combined with the company's LiDAR hardware, can provide customers with fully integrated LiDAR solutions. Seyond's integrated solutions have been adopted and implemented by many customers, such as subway line operators.
Seyond's revenue comes from sales of Falcon series LiDAR solutions, Robin series LiDAR solutions, Jaguar series LiDAR solutions, and others (mainly including software sales, electronic material sales, and engineering services).
**Shareholder Structure**
According to listing documents, before completion of the special purpose acquisition company merger transaction, Seyond's shareholder structure shows:
Dr. Bao Junwei holds 6.04% through High Altos Limited and 10.60% through Phthalo Blue LLC, exercises voting rights for 3.31% held by employee stock ownership plan grantors through voting proxy (which will terminate after closing), and 1.02% voting rights granted by proxy shareholders, with total control of approximately 20.97% of the company's voting rights.
Under the target company's articles of association, Dr. Bao Junwei has the right to cast 6 votes on the board of directors (the target company has no more than 6 directors, totaling 11 votes), and is deemed to control the majority composition of the target company's board, making him the controlling shareholder.
Other investors include NIO Capital, Beijing Guangyue, Banyan Partners Fund, Often Excel Investments, ERVC Technology, F-Prime Capital, CGC Asia, Bideford Global, Seres Group Co.,Ltd. (601127.SH), Jianbo Investment, Gateway Capital, Yangming Zhixing, Beijing Shiji Kaiyue, Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. (600699.SH), Temasek, BAI Capital, BAI GmbH, Joy Capital, Dongqing Cai, Rosewater, Silver Bear Fields, GUOTAI JUNAN I (01788.HK), Shunwei Capital, Beijing Dachen, Shanghai Guoce, Haixia Dolphin, Shouzheng Qilin, Hermitage Fund, Perfect Vision Global, Z1 Virtual, Wuhan Ronghui, Suzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle, Xingzheng Innovation and Zhongdi Investment, China International Capital Corporation Limited (601995.SH), Guolian Minsheng Securities Company Limited (601456.SH), Shanghai Junzhang, among others.
**Expected equity structure immediately following closing:**
Assuming capital restructuring is completed, no TechStar Class A shareholders exercise redemption rights, no TechStar Class A shareholders exercise demand rights, 55,130,000 successor company shares have been issued to PIPE investors under PIPE investment agreements, and no permitted equity financing:
Dr. Bao Junwei can control approximately 13.70% of the company's voting rights.
Dr. Li Yimin holds 1.69%;
Employee stock ownership plan grantors hold 2.52%;
Proxy shareholders hold 1.04%;
Other shareholders hold 69.80%;
PIPE investors: Huangshan Construction Investment Capital holds 2.85%, Fuze holds 1.15%, Zhuhai Hengqin Warburg Pincus holds 0.06%, totaling 4.06%;
TechStar sponsors hold 1.84%;
TechStar Class A shareholders hold 8.09%.
**Directors and Management**
After completion of the merger transaction, the successor company's board of directors will comprise 5 successor company directors, including:
2 executive directors:
Dr. Bao Junwei (Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer);
Dr. Li Yimin (Chief Technology Officer);
3 independent non-executive directors:
Dr. Chen Changling (tenured Associate Professor of Accounting and authorized doctoral supervisor at University of Waterloo);
Dr. Costas John Spanos (Andrew S. Grove Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley);
Dr. Maximilian Ibel (Board member of BrainKey).
Apart from successor company executive directors, successor company management includes:
Mr. Yao Yuan (Chief Financial Officer and Joint Company Secretary);
Mr. Yang Zheng (Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Software Engineering);
Mr. Chen Dong (President of China Region).
**Company Performance**
Financial data shows that in 2022, 2023, 2024, and the first three months of 2025, Seyond's operating revenue was $66 million, $121 million, $160 million, and $25 million respectively, with corresponding net losses of $188 million, $219 million, $398 million, and $15 million respectively, and corresponding adjusted net losses of $143 million, $137 million, $83 million, and $11 million respectively.
**Intermediary Team**
The main intermediary team participating in this De-SPAC includes:
Qingke Capital, CITIC Securities, and CITIC Construction Investment International as joint sponsors;
Deloitte as auditor;
Fangda Partners as target company's China counsel;
Davis Polk & Wardwell as target company's Hong Kong and US counsel;
Baker McKenzie and Han Kun Law Offices (Hong Kong) as TechStar's Hong Kong and US counsel;
Jingtian & Gongcheng as securities firm's China counsel;
Allen & Overy Shearman Sterling as securities firm's Hong Kong counsel;
Haotong Capital as compliance advisor;
CIC as industry advisor.