GoPro sells itself in $285M reverse merger as optics firm targets AI data centers
创业邦 · wechat · 2026-09-04
GoPro announced a merger with US optics company Starman Optical: existing shareholders receive $285M cash ($1.14/share) and keep 10% of the combined company, while Starman takes 90% — a classic reverse merger. GoPro's $92M debt will be repaid, the company stays on Nasdaq, and its camera/subscription business survives.
- Starman makes optical transceivers, a critical component for AI data center fiber interconnects, and plans to expand into AI data centers, defense, robotics and aerospace.
- The piece traces GoPro's arc: founded in 2002 for surf photography, worth $4B at its 2014 IPO with $1.394B revenue; then the Karma drone battery-recall fiasco, defeat by DJI's Mavic, and market share erosion to DJI (40.1%) and Insta360 (37.9%) in Japan by 2025, leaving GoPro at 18.9%.
- The action-camera pioneer effectively exits via the AI infrastructure boom.
More from Venture
- Satirical Post: $1B 'AI Trading Lab' Allegedly Trades on Model-Release Insider Info — StewartalsopIII · 2026-10-20
- a16z's Ben Horowitz says AI buildout isn't the 90s bubble — an investor pushes back — henloitsjoyce · 2026-10-20
- DeepSeek hands inference providers 90%+ margins, pressuring Moonshot and Zhipu hosting deals — teortaxesTex · 2026-10-20
- a16z leads Eka Robotics Series A, betting on Vision-Force-Action models for dexterous manipulation — a16z · 2026-10-20
- Salesforce signs definitive agreement to acquire customer engagement platform Braze — thedealdirector · 2026-10-20
- Anthropic and OpenAI API gross margins claimed to be as high as 95% — zephyr_z9 · 2026-10-20