Lidar-maker Luminar files for bankruptcy

The company aims to sell off its lidar business during the bankruptcy proceeding, and has already reached a deal to sell its semiconductor subsidiary. While the company will continue to operate during the bankruptcy process to “minimize disruptions” for its suppliers and customers, Luminar will eventually cease to exist once it’s completed.

“After a comprehensive review of our alternatives, the board determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward,” Paul Ricci, Luminar’s CEO said in a statement. “As we navigate this process, our top priority is to continue delivering the same quality, reliability and service our customers have come to expect from us.”

Russell still plans to bid for what’s left of Luminar during the bankruptcy process, a spokesperson for Russell AI Labs told TechCrunch.

“Over the past three months — at the invitation of certain key stakeholders including Luminar board members — Russell AI Labs, in partnership with a large technology company, engaged with Luminar on a proposal to provide a landing pad for the company and preserve and create shareholder value. Unfortunately they went in a different direction, as evidenced by today’s events,” the spokesperson said.

“It has been challenging for Mr. Russell to watch from the sidelines, and Russell AI Labs believes we can create tremendous value with Luminar’s technology platform, restore key customer relationships, progress the mission to save millions of lives, and build the business stronger than ever,” they continued.

The company, meanwhile, cut 25% of its workforce — its second layoff of the year. Luminar’s chief financial officer left the company, the company defaulted on a number of loans, and the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation.

Luminar is claiming to have between $100 million and $500 million in assets and between $500 million and $1 billion in liabilities, according to the bankruptcy filings. Among those liabilities is a $10 million debt owed to Scale AI, which was helping Luminar with data labeling. Luminar also owes more than $1 million to AI software company Applied Intuition.

This story has been updated with a statement from Russell AI Labs.