Trinity backs Cepton

Trinity Capital has provided a $25 million facility to Cepton, a San Jose, California-based provider of of lidar-based solutions for automotive, smart cities, smart spaces, and smart industrial applications. No financial terms were disclosed. The capital infusion will be used for growth.

PRESS RELEASE

PHOENIX, Feb. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Trinity Capital Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIN) (“Trinity”), a leading specialty lending company that provides debt, including loans and equipment financing, to growth-stage companies backed by technology banks, venture capital, and private equity firms, is pleased to support Cepton’s growth with a $25 million facility. The transaction was completed prior to Cepton Technologies’ closing of the merger with Growth Capital Acquisition Corp, now renamed to Cepton Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTN) (“Cepton”). $10 million was drawn under the facility and Cepton has the option to draw an additional $15 million at any time prior to July 1, 2022, subject to the conditions under the agreement. Details of the agreement can be found in Cepton’s Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 5, 2022.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Cepton is an innovator of lidar-based solutions for automotive (ADAS/AV), smart cities, smart spaces, and smart industrial applications. The team at Cepton expects to use the loan proceeds for scaling operations to service their growing demand.

“Cepton is at the forefront of a massive digital transformation toward automation, providing its cost-effective lidar technology to companies who are making automation happen across a wide range of commercial applications,” said Bob D’Acquisto, Managing Director of Trinity. “Their market position coupled with their proprietary technologies make them a great fit for our portfolio. We are excited to support Cepton achieve its goal of deploying high performance, mass-market lidar to deliver safety and autonomy.”

Founded in 2016 and led by industry veterans with decades of collective experience across a wide range of advanced lidar and imaging technologies, Cepton focuses on the mass market commercialization of high-performance, high-quality lidar solutions. Cepton’s patented MMT®-based lidar technology enables reliable, scalable, and cost-effective solutions that deliver long-range, high-resolution 3D perception for smart applications. Recently, the company held its opening bell ringing ceremony at Nasdaq and started its public listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

Jun Pei, Chief Executive Officer of Cepton, said, “Trinity has been a great financial partner throughout this process, providing us with a best-in-class financing solution to grow our business. We have strengthened our capital position to execute our strategic initiatives and pursue platform expansion opportunities. As a result, we are better positioned than ever to drive meaningful adoption of our lidar technology that will enable safe autonomous transportation for everyone.”

About Trinity Capital Inc.
Trinity (Nasdaq: TRIN), an internally managed specialty lending company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, is a leading provider of debt, including loans and equipment financing, to growth stage companies, including venture-backed companies and companies with institutional equity investors. Trinity’s investment objective is to generate current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation through investments consisting primarily of term loans and equipment financings and, to a lesser extent, working capital loans, equity and equity-related investments. Trinity believes it is one of only a select group of specialty lenders that has the depth of knowledge, experience, and track record in lending to growth stage companies.