Autonomous driving software company LeddarTech has filed for bankruptcy under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) days after announcing its plans to wind down operations on June 16.
The filing from the Québec City-based company details $145.9 million in debts. Secured (collateral-backed) debts represent $138.9 million of the figure and include $53.2 million owed to the provincial government’s Investissement Québec (IQ) and a total of $40.3 million to investor and credit provider Desjardins.
Shareholders warned there was a “significant risk” they would receive “little to no value” from the proceedings.
Other major secured debts belong to FS Investors and Prospector Sponsor ($13 million each), Fidelity ($8.3 million), and the federal development bank BDC Capital ($4.1 million).
Technology partners like California-based Scale AI (about $347,000) and Montréal’s SE Cloud Experts ($379,000) also have unsecured debts.
When LeddarTech announced the bankruptcy filing, it warned shareholders there was a “significant risk” they would receive “little to no value” from the proceedings. It also made clear there were no expectations of resuming business, and that it would be delisted from the Nasdaq Global Market stock exchange.
LeddarTech was founded in 2007 and developed software solutions to help autonomous vehicles navigate their surroundings. The company established research facilities in Montréal and Tel Aviv, Israel. It grew along with the self-driving technology sector and in 2022 obtained $140 million USD (then $178 million CAD) in Series D funding and debt, forging a deal in 2023 for a public stock listing on the Nasdaq that December.
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The share price fell rapidly, however, and by August 2024 LeddarTech had received warnings it might be delisted for failing to stay above the $1 USD share price minimum. By May of this year, it was racing to raise $9.7 million USD ($13.2 million CAD) to avoid defaulting on its Desjardins credit facility due to a lack of cash on hand. It failed to negotiate a temporary solution and laid off 95 percent of staff in an unsuccessful bid to allow bankruptcy alternatives like a sale or investment.
Canada still has a significant foothold in the autonomy space despite LeddarTech’s demise. Most notably, University of Toronto professor Raquel Urtasun’s autonomous trucking startup Waabi has secured major partners like Volvo and, in 2024, raised a $275-million Series B round with hopes of launching driverless trucks this year.
Feature image from Glassdoor.