February 4, 2022

LeddarTech Announces 140 Million USD in Series D Financing Combined With Debt Facility

The latest financing supports LeddarTech’s accelerated growth and development efforts for its unique proprietary sensor fusion and perception automotive solutions.

QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LeddarTech^®, a global leader in providing the most flexible, robust and accurate ADAS and AD sensing technology, is pleased to announce a successful financing round with an investment of US$ 140M, which comprises a Series D first close of US$ 116M and debt facility of US$ 24M.

FS Investors led the financing round with the participation of Investissement Québec, BDC Capital, Go Capital, certain funds managed by Fidelity Investments Canada ULC, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Export Development Canada, ams OSRAM, Desjardins Capital, UI Investissement, Cowen Investment II LLC and other LeddarTech management. The debt facility was secured with Desjardins Group.

This investment will accelerate the development and commercialization of LeddarTech solutions. In addition, LeddarTech will use the funds to augment engineering resources to meet the demands from global OEM and Tier 1-2 automotive customers actively engaged with the company for sensor fusion and perception sensing solutions.

“Our decision to partner with LeddarTech began with our introduction to the corporate senior management team. Individually, the senior team possess decades of experience in the technology industry. In addition, many have worked with major global automotive and sensing technology companies,” stated Nick Stone, founder and partner of FS Investors. “An extensive due diligence process coupled with strong customer validation confirmed that LeddarTech’s unique solution is the best positioned in the market to unlock mass adoption of ADAS and AD by breaking typical software dependency on hardware in sensing,” according to Mr. Stone, concluding that: “The LeddarTech solution, called LeddarVision™, provides customers with the flexibility to quickly scale across vehicle models and deliver faster to market with greater performance at a lower cost.”

“The success of this round is a testament to the growth and industry recognition LeddarTech has achieved. I am delighted to welcome FS Investors as our most recent investors, who bring vast experience and expertise in the deep tech sector,” stated Charles Boulanger, CEO of LeddarTech. “I was impressed by the quality and thoroughness of their due diligence and their exceptional understanding of the ADAS and AD market, which confirms the value of our unique software solution. Our team and I look forward to working with FS Investors, our other new investors and our existing partners to enable our customers to significantly deploy our reliable and cost-effective ADAS and AD solutions across their brands and markets,” Mr. Boulanger concluded.

Cowen and Desjardins Capital Markets acted as co-advisors in this investment round.

About LeddarTech

Founded in 2007, LeddarTech has evolved to become a comprehensive end-to-end environmental sensing company by enabling customers to solve critical sensing, fusion and perception challenges across the entire value chain. The company offers cost-effective and scalable solutions such as LeddarVision™, a raw-data sensor fusion and perception platform that generates a comprehensive 3D environmental model with multi-sensor configurations to support Level 2+ to Level 5 full autonomy. It is scalable to support all vehicle automation levels. In addition, LeddarTech supports LiDAR makers and Tier 1-2 automotive system integrators with LeddarSteer™, a digital beam steering device, and the LiDAR XLRator development solution for automotive-grade solid-state LiDAR development based on the LeddarEngine™ and core components from global semiconductor partners. The company is responsible for several innovations in cutting-edge automotive and mobility remote-sensing applications, with over 100 patented technologies (granted or pending) enhancing ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities.

Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.leddartech.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Contact:
Daniel Aitken, Vice-President of Global Marketing, Communications and Investor Relations, LeddarTech Inc.
Tel.: + 1-418-653-9000 ext. 232
daniel.aitken@leddartech.com

Leddar, LeddarTech, LeddarSteer, LeddarEngine, LeddarVision, LeddarSP, LeddarCore, LeddarEcho, VAYADrive, VayaVision, XLRator and related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LeddarTech Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other brands, product names and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

February 4, 2022

Security forces recover huge cache of weapons, IEDs in North Waziristan IBO

Security forces have conducted an intelligence-based operation in Ghulam Khan Khel area of North Waziristan district, on reports of a terrorists' hideout in the area.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations, large quantity of weapons, ammunition and Improvised Explosive Devices were recovered from the terrorists' hide during the operation.

The recovered weapons and ammunition include sub-machine guns, hand grenades, RPG-7 rockets, material used in preparation of IEDs, communication equipment and hundreds of multiple caliber rounds.

Source: Radio Pakistan

February 4, 2022

Govt finalizes Single National Curriculum from grade 6 to 8 in all schools

The government has finalized Single National Curriculum from grade six to eight in all public and private schools, which will be formally notified today (Friday).

In an exclusive interview with News and Current Affairs Channel of Radio Pakistan, Director National Curriculum Council Dr Maryam Chughtai said under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, new Single National Curriculum in the next phase is being implemented from August this year.

She said Single National Curriculum is based on compulsory subjects like Maths, Science, Computer and English to ensure equal standard of concepts and education of all children.

Source: Radio Pakistan

February 4, 2022

1800 Acres Land Worth Rs. 20 Billion Recovered From Land Grabbers

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting was held under the chairmanship of Rana Tanveer Hussain at the Parliament House. Audit objections regarding Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) were discussed.

Briefing the meeting, Secretary Religious Affairs Sardar Ijaz Jaffer said that the government has conducted a forensic audit of abandoned properties on the orders of the Supreme Court. He told the meeting that due to forensic audit, many lands belonging to minorities have been recovered.

Rana Tanveer said that there has been a significant improvement in the recovery of the evacuee board’s lands.

Addressing the committee meeting, Senator Dr Shahzad Wasim said that the FIA should be allowed to continue its work keeping in view the decision of the Supreme Court. On this occasion, the Secretary Religious Affairs informed that so far 1800 acres of land worth Rs. 20 billion has been recovered with the help of FIA. At the same time, the FIA has so far registered more than 40 cases against the land grabbers.

The chairman of the committee lauded the performance of the ETPB and the Ministry of Religious Affairs and said that many lands have been recovered. The audit officials told the committee that the Supreme Court had asked for a forensic audit of abandoned properties since 1947 and so far 30,000 files have been completed, with further investigations underway. FIA officials said that various cases have been registered on the orders of the Supreme Court.

Rana Tanveer said that Baba Guru Nanak had a lot of land around Kartarpur but Frontier Works Organization (FWO) did not know about it. The committee sought a briefing from the Evacuee Trust Board on the lands of Kartarpur in its next meeting.

Earlier, when the committee meeting started, the quorum could not be completed for an hour. An hour later, the quorum of the meeting was filled with the arrival of Federal Minister Shibli Faraz. Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed came to the meeting and told the committee that he had left the Senate session to join the committee. Rana Tanveer quipped that he did not come to the Senate on the day he should have come.

He was criticizing Mushahid Hussain for being absent on the day of legislation regarding the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in which the government had won despite a majority of opposition members.

Source: Pro Pakistani

February 4, 2022

Pakistan to Launch New Tax Operation Package in Budget 2022-23

Pakistan will launch a comprehensive tax operation package in the next budget (FY 2022-23), which will reflect a federal-provincial consensus on the new tax regulations.

According to some top officials, who have a role in budget preparation, at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Ministry of Finance, Pakistan will soon receive a long-term soft loan of at least $800 million for this project to be completed in 2022-23. They said reputable international institutions with profiles on taxation restructuring would be engaged to assist in this task.

As an initial part of the entire mechanism, an exercise would be carried out on the federal-provincial coordination to ensure broadening of the national tax base, fulfilling the need to test-run the new system.

The officials said the Council of Common Interest (CCI) would examine the basic goals, targets, structural format, and regulatory details of the new system before its final approval by the federal cabinet and later by the Parliament.

The system is meant to ensure that the GST Withholding rates are rationalized and collecting the tax is converted into real-time digital in all the relevant aspects. To this end, the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) would be engaged as a basic data provider and examiner on businesses players from the lowest taxable to the top market players in the application of GST.

Once the system crosses the firm upstage, its connectivity to tax on income and Customs would be ensured to plug the holes presently taken advantage of by the large and medium scale business actors and these operating on the market margins, the officials added.

Source: Pro Pakistani

February 4, 2022

Updated PSL 2022 Points Table After Peshawar’s Win Against Karachi

Karachi Kings lost their fourth consecutive match in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 7 as Peshawar Zalmi registered their second victory in the tournament. As a result, Peshawar Zalmi have moved to the fourth spot in the PSL 2022 points table while Kings stay at the bottom of the table.

Peshawar got off to a formidable start with opener Hazratullah Zazai scoring a quickfire 41. They struggled in the middle phase of the innings before veteran middle-order batter Shoaib Malik smashed a brilliant half-century to take them to a total of 173/4.

Karachi got off to the worst possible start as Sharjeel Khan and Sahibzada Farhan went back to the pavilion without scoring. Captain Babar Azam managed to score a fifty but some brilliant bowling by Zalmi pacers restricted the run-flow. In the end, it was an uphill task for the Karachi batter to keep up with the required run rate as they could only manage to score 164/6. Zalmi won the match by 9 runs.

Source: Pro Pakistani