Velodyne Lidar was a Silicon Valley-based pioneer in real-time 3D lidar sensor technology, spun off from David Hall's Velodyne Acoustics in 2016 after Hall invented the first rotating 3D lidar sensor for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Velodyne supplied lidar sensors used in autonomous vehicles, ADAS, robotics, mapping, security, and smart-city/infrastructure applications, with customers across the automotive, industrial and robotics sectors. The company went public via a SPAC merger with Graf Industrial Corp. in September 2020 (Nasdaq: VLDR) at an enterprise value of approximately $1.6 billion. Following intense competition and industry consolidation, Velodyne completed an all-stock merger of equals with Ouster on February 10, 2023, with the combined company continuing under the Ouster name and ticker (NYSE: OUST).
Velodyne has been acquired
This company is no longer available on our private secondary market.
Company data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Founded
2016
Employees
501–1,000
Total Funding
$225M
3 rounds
Latest Valuation
$1.8B
Sep 29, 2020
Funding data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Total raised $225M across 3 rounds
Last updated 05-21-2026
| Date | Round | Amount Raised | Valuation | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 29, 2020 | spac_merger_pipe | $150M PIPE (within $1.8B SPAC merger) | $1.8B | Graf Industrial Corp. |
| Oct 23, 2019 | private_equity | ~$50M (strategic) | — | Hyundai Mobis |
| Aug 16, 2016 | private_equity | $150M | — | Ford Motor Company, Baidu |
David Hall
Founder & Former Executive Chairman
Ted Tewksbury
Final CEO (Nov 2021 - Feb 2023); Executive Chairman of combined Ouster post-merger
Anand Gopalan
Former CEO (Jan 2020 - Jul 2021)
Competitor list is illustrative and may be incomplete, stale, or erroneous.
Ouster
Digital lidar sensor maker; merged with Velodyne in Feb 2023 to form the combined Ouster (NYSE: OUST).
Luminar Technologies
Long-range lidar provider for automotive ADAS/autonomy; SPAC-listed 2020 (Nasdaq: LAZR).
Hesai Technology
Leading Chinese lidar manufacturer for autonomous vehicles and robotics; Nasdaq-listed 2023.
Innoviz Technologies
Israeli MEMS-based solid-state lidar maker; SPAC-listed (Nasdaq: INVZ).
Aeva Technologies
FMCW lidar pioneer for automotive and industrial use; SPAC-listed (Nasdaq: AEVA).
RoboSense
Chinese lidar maker for autonomous driving and robotics, HKEX-listed.
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