Nightcap: Aurora said to agree to merge with Reid Hoffman's SPAC and a Manning family-backed grill retailer looking to heat up the SPAC market

Driverless technology startup Aurora Innovation Inc. has agreed to go public via a merger with Reinvent Technology Partners Y (RTPY: $9.85), a blank-check firm led by executives including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga Inc. founder Mark Pincus, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The transaction’s valuation couldn’t immediately be learned. TechCrunch in early June reported that Aurora and the Reinvent SPAC were in talks for a deal close to $12 billion. An agreement is set to be announced as soon as Thursday, the people with knowledge of the matter said.

Aurora is led by Chief Executive Officer Chris Urmson, and Hoffman is a board member. In March, the Silicon Valley-based startup, added Volvo Group to its list of partners to develop self-driving trucks. Paccar Inc. joined with Aurora in January for a similar development deal. Aurora has said its investors include Amazon.com, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp.

Aurora’s technology relies on innovations in lidar, which uses lasers to build a three-dimensional image of the surrounding landscape and help plot routes around obstacles in the road. It uses a technology that is designed to allow vehicles to “see” farther and faster and is critical at highway speeds.

BBQGuys, an online retailer of grills, outdoor kitchens and other accessories, is in talks to go public through a merger with Velocity Acquisition Corp. (VELO: $9.84), according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The combined company is set to be valued at around $900 million, including debt, the people said. Unlike some other recent special purpose acquisition company transactions, there will be no private investment in public equity raised to support the deal, they added.

Existing investors are set to roll their equity into the deal, the people said. BBQGuys’ majority owner is Brand Velocity Partners, and minority investors include a family of National Football League veterans: Archie Manning and his sons Eli Manning and Peyton Manning. Archie and Eli are in some of the company’s advertisements, its website shows.

Representatives for Velocity and Brand Velocity Partners declined to comment. A BBQGuys spokesman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

BBQGuys, an e-commerce marketplace that stocks brands including Blaze, Weber, Traeger and Magma, has been profitable for decades, the people with knowledge of the matter said. Its revenue has risen at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 40% over the past 3 years to more than $250 million in 2020, the people said. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was over $30 million last year.