Wejo completes $1bn Nasdaq listing through reverse merger
Seneca Partners, the Newton-le-Willows-based specialist SME investment business has announced that EIS portfolio company, Manchester-based Wejo, has completed a reverse merger with Virtuoso Acquisition Corp and trading in the enlarged business commences today (November 19) on Nasdaq.
The deal will enable Wejo, a leader in connected vehicle data, to accelerate expansion of markets across traffic management, advertising, fleet management, insurance, remote diagnostics, car sharing and rental, roadside assistance, payments, SaaS solutions and more.
Every day, Wejo collects in near-real-time 14.6 billion data points and analyses 66 million journeys across a network of 10.7 million live vehicles from a supply base of more than 50 million connected vehicles.
Wejo expects its connected vehicle network to expand significantly with nearly half of all vehicles globally expected to be connected vehicles by the end of this decade.
Matt Currie, investment director at Seneca Partners, said: “This is an outstanding result for Richard and the entire Wejo team.
“Seneca Partners identified the potential of Wejo and supported the company via its EIS portfolio funds at the start of its incredible and rapid growth journey in 2016, and has followed with several funding rounds since then.
“It is a proud day for the company and we are delighted to have worked closely with such a strong management team since the early days. It is also a celebration of the power and potential which exists within the North West SME community where Seneca maintains a long standing and well developed footprint.”
He added: “It also fully demonstrates the power and purpose of the UK Government’s tax advantaged schemes – in this case the Enterprise Investment Scheme – in helping the best young innovative UK companies to raise capital to continue to grow and scale.
“Much is made about levels of funds raised and how they are deployed. However, those advisers who recommend their clients to us across the breadth of the UK choose us for our ability to select investment opportunities wisely and to provide cash returns to them within sensible investment horizons and this milestone for Wejo will allow us to continue to delight our investors and their advisers.”
Richard Barlow, CEO and founder of Wejo, said: “The team at Virtuoso champions our vision to transform connected vehicle data into data for good, and we are proud to establish the market standard for collecting and aggregating that data.
“Insights developed by our data will make mobility safer, smarter, and more sustainable. Driven by our marketplace solutions for customers and SaaS solutions for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and Tier 1 partners, we expect rapid growth in revenues over the next several years.”
