Palo Alto – September 18, 2023 – Woodside Capital Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to EXALOS, a Swiss photonics company specializing in the design of high-performance optical semiconductors, on their acquisition by indie Semiconductor, an Autotech solutions innovator. This expands indie’s ADAS and User Experience Portfolio with Breakthrough Near Infrared and Visible Superluminescent LED (SLED) as well as Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) Products.

Founded in 2003 and based in Zürich, EXALOS has developed and launched several highly innovative advanced products for the world’s most demanding application areas. In particular, EXALOS’ field-proven SLEDs for fiber optic gyroscope and Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs), backed by 59 global patents, complement indie’s laser and Silicon Photonics products, creating the industry’s highest-performance portfolio targeting rapidly emerging Autotech applications.

“EXALOS’ differentiated solutions immediately expand indie’s ADAS and User Experience product and technology offering to our global tier one and automotive OEM customer base,” said Donald McClymont, indie’s co-founder and CEO. “Specifically, indie can now leverage EXALOS’ core Super luminescent LED, and SOA technologies to enable Head Up Display (HUD), high brightness visible lighting and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)-based navigational applications and, importantly, to extend our FMCW LiDAR portfolio. We are gaining a well-established team of 17 world class engineers, including the industry’s leading expertise in bright light sources based on a proprietary Gallium Nitride process. At a higher level, our acquisition of EXALOS represents another step in our quest to build a broadline Autotech powerhouse.”

“We are excited to join forces with indie at this key juncture of EXALOS’ evolution,” said Christian Velez, CEO and founder of EXALOS. “Given indie’s global sales channels and demonstrated scalability, I am confident that together we can take our business to the next level, capitalizing on clear product synergies between us and extending our customer reach while preserving the EXALOS innovation engine.”

WCP Managing Director George Jones said, “When we first engaged with EXALOS, they wanted to join a high-quality larger organization whose products and services are complementary. Indie Semiconductor perfectly matches these objectives.” WCP Managing Director Chris Abato said “We thank the people of Indie Semiconductor and EXALOS for their efficient handling of the acquisition process and wish them tremendous success working together.”

Subject to the terms and conditions of the definitive agreement, indie paid approximately $45 million to EXALOS equity holders comprised of 6.6 million indie Class A common shares. In addition, if certain revenue-based performance targets are exceeded over a 24-month post-closing period, there is an opportunity for such holders to earn up to $20 million more in cash or indie Class A common shares, at indie’s election. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both indie and EXALOS. The acquisition is expected to be financially neutral in 2023 and accretive to indie’s 2024 results.

The securities to be issued in connection with the transaction have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and may not be resold absent registration under or exemption from such Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

About EXALOS
Founded in 2003, EXALOS is a privately held, technology driven company, which focuses on the design, development, manufacturing and sales of advanced light source solutions based on Superluminescent Light Emitting Diodes (SLEDs) and External Cavity Tunable Lasers (Swept Sources).

In addition, the EXALOS product portfolio includes Driver Electronics, and Balanced Receivers which are complementary to our light source offerings. EXALOS has shipped more than 700,000 SLEDs since 2003. EXALOS products are used extensively in Medical and Industrial Imaging, Navigation, Optical Sensing, Metrology, and Scientific applications.

EXALOS has established strategic alliances with technological- and cost leadership partners, with the goal to provide customers with the optimum balance of price, time to market and performance for any given specification. This approach gives EXALOS the flexibility to develop devices as solutions tailored for particular customers and markets.

About indie
indie is empowering the Autotech revolution with next generation automotive semiconductors and software platforms. We focus on developing innovative, high-performance and energy-efficient technology for ADAS, user experience and electrification applications. Our mixed-signal SoCs enable edge sensors spanning Radar, LiDAR, Ultrasound, and Computer Vision, while our embedded system control, power management and interfacing solutions transform the in-cabin experience and accelerate increasingly automated and electrified vehicles. We are an approved vendor to Tier 1 partners and our solutions can be found in marquee automotive OEMs worldwide. Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, CA, indie has design centers and regional support offices across the United States, Canada, Argentina, Scotland, England, Germany, Hungary, Morocco, Israel, Japan, South Korea and China.