
Taking into account these career paths, this tech prodigy may have more professionally in common with his paternal and maternal grandfathers as the former invented our modern-day electric blanket and the latter once built a raceway. His father, Michael, brokered commercial real estate while his mother, Shannon, was a model who occasionally dabbled in public speaking. ChildhoodĪustin was born on Pi Day in March of 1996 and grew up along the sparkling, sun-drenched shores of Orange County’s famed Newport Beach. Regardless of the fact that the foundation of his wealth is pretty much exclusively on paper at this juncture, it’s important to observe the brilliance of Luminar CEO Austin Russell and thoroughly analyze the steps he took in life to procure such a promising future after only a quarter-century’s existence on Earth. So you might be wondering, how does somebody who owns a company that actually posts annual net losses by the millions of dollars become a billionaire? Basking in the marvelous magic of a capitalistic society, we’re happy to humbly retort, it happens much more often than you’d think. Then they hauled in $15 million of revenue in 2 020, however, that’s paired with operating losses of $72 million. If we peel the curtain back, over the course of 2019, Luminar had $12.6 million in revenue while also reporting a net loss of $94.7 million. Luminar touts a market cap north of $10 billion and trades at over 350x projected 2021 revenue, making Russell’s rise into the billionaire ranks entirely based on the value of his holdings in the high-tech sensor manufacturer. Russell has impressively managed to hang onto a personal stake worth nearly a third of his company, all things considered in Silicon Valley’s shark-infested venture capitalist environment, and maintains 83% of the voting power whilst functioning as chairmen of the board, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares in Orlando-based Luminar closed with a value of $22.98 on its IPO day, up 28% from a closing price of $18 just twenty-four hours earlier, when the shares traded as Gores Metropoulos stock. “We set up the company to be a long-term sustainable business and power the future of autonomy for all of these automakers. “It is totally surreal and it totally makes sense and it is hard to explain the dichotomy of it, but this has always been the goal,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box in an interview following the news of his recently struck fortune. The company he started as a teenager attending high school engineers cutting edge lidar technology paramount to the development of fully autonomous vehicles that can be realistically priced for mass-market appeal.

#AUSTIN RUSSELL LUMINAR SOFTWARE#
This collaboration will better position Luminar to expand deployment of our technology on a variety of production vehicle platforms in this fast-paced market where demand is rapidly growing for vehicles defined by their technical capabilities.” said Austin Russell, Founder and CEO of Luminar.īy integrating Luminar’s long-range LiDAR and software with ECARX’s suite of automotive intelligence products, automakers worldwide will have a clearer path and shorter time to deploy advanced safety technologies and driving capabilities on their production vehicles.Capping off an already unbelievable trip around the Sun, December 2020 saw wall street introduce the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, twenty-five-year-old CEO and founder of Luminar, Austin Russell. “ECARX has earned an esteemed reputation and strong track record of success in the world’s largest auto market, China.


As part of the collaboration, Luminar will also make a strategic stock-based investment in ECARX. Leveraging ECARX’s bond with Geely and the latter’s ecosystem comprising some of the world’s most reputable automotive brands, Luminar will accelerate its deployment of industry-leading long-range LiDAR and software in China and beyond.

The cooperation will further strengthen Luminar’s presence in China, the world’s largest automotive market. Beijing (Gasgoo)- Global automotive technology company, Luminar, announced its partnership with Geely-backed ECARX on automotive-grade technologies with the intent to enable advanced safety and autonomous driving capabilities for both passenger and commercial vehicles.
