Successful public listing in February 2022, resulting in cash and available liquidity of $175 million
Completed key production milestones with Tier-1 partner Koito Manufacturing in support of General Motors Ultra Cruise program
Completed near-range lidar (Nova) design and sampling with multiple top-10 automotive OEMs
SAN JOSE, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 10, 2022 — Cepton, Inc. (“Cepton”) (Nasdaq: CPTN), a Silicon Valley innovator and leader in high-performance MMT® lidar solutions, today announced business updates and financials for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2021.
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“Since founding Cepton in 2016, we have had the unwavering vision of enabling safe and autonomous transportation for everyone. Following many years of hard work, we made tremendous progress towards achieving this vision by securing the largest known ADAS series production award in the industry,” said Jun Pei, Cepton’s Co-Founder and CEO. “We anticipate that 2022 will be a momentous year for Cepton as we accelerate our commercial success driven by industry leading lidar products that achieve the best balance between performance, reliability and cost. We are excited about the long-term opportunity given our competitive advantages and expect to see Cepton lidars in everyday vehicles in the not-too-distant future.”
2021 Highlights
- Completed business combination with Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. on February 10, 2022, resulting in listing on the Nasdaq under “CPTN”, and cash and available liquidity of $175 million
- Execution of series production award in support of General Motors (“GM”) Ultra Cruise on track to complete C-sample in the first half of 2022
- Advanced engagements with four other global top-10 automotive OEMs for mass-market vehicle adoption of Cepton lidars
- Engaged in discussions with all global top-10 automotive OEMs for production vehicle programs
- 10 advanced engagements and evaluations with other automotive OEMs outside of the global top-10 group
- Nine production awards and 126 total engagements with Smart Infrastructure customers
2022 Objectives and Targeted Milestones
Hardware
- Meet or exceed execution milestones in support of the GM Ultra Cruise program for anticipated Start of Production in 2023
- Complete B-Sample design of Nova (near-range lidar product) and complete evaluation with multiple global top-10 automotive OEM customers
- Complete Nova evaluation with multiple top global trucking OEMs and accelerate Nova advanced engagements with smart logistics customers
Software
- Complete embedded automotive software development in support of the GM Ultra Cruise program for functional safety and over-the-air update support
- Advance automotive perception software maturity for evaluation by top-10 automotive OEMs
Commercial
- Secure one additional series production award from a top-10 global OEM and increase advanced engagements with global OEMs
- Expand Cepton’s presence in China to address Automotive and Smart Infrastructure opportunities
- Increase Smart Infrastructure production awards and engagements
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Financial Highlights
Revenue
- Fourth quarter 2021 revenue was $1.3 million, an increase of 121%, compared to the prior year period
- Full year 2021 revenue was $4.5 million, an increase of 124%, compared to full year 2020
Net loss
- Fourth quarter 2021 net loss was $10.6 million, an increase of $4.6 million over the prior year period
- Full year 2021 net loss was $37.1 million, an increase of $17.4 million over FY2020
EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
- Fourth quarter 2021 EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA was ($10.6) million and ($9.4) million, respectively
- Full year 2021 EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA was ($36.8) million and ($33.4) million, respectively
Cash and Available Liquidity
- Cash and available liquidity were approximately $175 million as of February 11, 2022
Full Year 2022 Financial Outlook
- Maintain prior 2022 revenue guidance of $15 million
- Expected operating expenses in the range of $55 million to $65 million
- Expected cash and available liquidity at end of 2022 to be greater than $100 million
Conference Call Details
Cepton will host a live conference call and webcast to discuss the business updates and results at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) today. The live call can be accessed by dialing 844-826-3035 and by webcast at https://investors.cepton.com/.
A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the live call and until March 24, 2022, and can be accessed by dialing 844-512-2921 and entering the passcode 10164513. An archived webcast of the conference call will be accessible on Cepton’s Investor Relations page.
About Cepton, Inc.
Cepton is a Silicon Valley innovator of lidar-based solutions for automotive (ADAS/AV), smart cities, smart spaces and smart industrial applications. With its patented Micro Motion Technology (MMT®), Cepton aims to take lidar mainstream and achieve a balanced approach to performance, cost and reliability, while enabling scalable and intelligent 3D perception solutions across industries.
Cepton has been awarded the largest known ADAS lidar series production award in the industry to date, based on the number of vehicle models awarded, to support General Motors’ Ultra Cruise program. Cepton is also engaged with all other Top 10 global OEMs.
Founded in 2016 and led by industry veterans with decades of collective experience across a wide range of advanced lidar and imaging technologies, Cepton is focused on the mass market commercialization of high performance, high quality lidar solutions. Cepton is headquartered in San Jose, CA and has a center of excellence facility in Troy, MI to provide local support to the OEM and Tier 1-studded Metro Detroit area. Cepton also has a presence in Germany, Canada, Japan, India and China to serve a fast-growing global customer base. For more information, visit www.cepton.com and follow Cepton on Twitter and LinkedIn. Information on or that can be accessed through our website, our Twitter account, our LinkedIn account, or that is contained in any website to which a hyperlink is provided herein is not part of this press release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements included under Full Year 2022 Financial Outlook above as well as any other statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “estimate,” “objective,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “target,” “milestone,” “designed to” or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Cepton cautions viewers of this press release that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Cepton’s control, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of financial and performance metrics, projections of market opportunity, future sensor sales numbers and market share, potential benefits and the commercial attractiveness to its customers of Cepton’s products and services, the potential success of Cepton’s marketing and expansion strategies, and the potential for Cepton to achieve design awards.