Blank-check company Graf Industrial Corp is in talks to merge with Baidu -backed Velodyne Lidar, a deal that would take public the maker of sensors used in self-driving vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter. Graf Industrial is working with an adviser to help raise funding for the potential transaction, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter is not public. No deal has been reached and Graf Industrial could opt to pursue another target, one of the people said. Houston-based Graf Industrial’s shares rose as high as 30 per cent on the news and closed at a record US$15, giving the company a market value of about US$457 million. Representatives for Graf Industrial and Velodyne declined to comment. Velodyne creates radar-like systems for self-driving vehicles that use lasers to generate three-dimensional images of a surrounding environment. Its technology is used by carmakers including Mercedes-Benz and Ford Motor Co, according to its website. Backers include Chinese internet search giant Baidu and Ford, which together invested US$150 million in Velodyne in 2016 . Velodyne hired bankers last year to go public and was seeking to surpass its last private valuation of US$1.8 billion, Business Insider reported at the time. Graf Industrial, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, raised US$225 million in an initial public offering in 2018. In April, the company said it was negotiating a combination with PureCycle Technologies, a polypropylene recycling company. Baidu boss Robin Li mulls secondary listing in Hong Kong to complete BAT trio as US-China tensions rise Merging with a blank-check company has become a popular way for companies to go public, as the coronavirus pandemic upends the markets. Online gambling company DraftKings merged with a SPAC in April, while potato crisp maker Utz Quality Foods and group fitness company F45 Training Holdings struck SPAC deals this month.