Luminar receives a larger bid of $33 million for its lidar business

Luminar received a higher bid for its lidar business with the conclusion of a court-conducted auction on Monday, according to a new filing in the company’s bankruptcy case.

MicroVision, a Redmond, Wash.-based company developing its own lidar sensors, submitted a bid of $33 million, beating Quantum Computing Inc.’s $22 million. A few weeks ago as the presenter of the show called “Stalking Horse”. (Quantum Computing Inc. raised its bid to $28 million but appears to have been unwilling or unable to raise its price.)

In a statement, MicroVision said Tuesday it is acquiring “IP and inventory related to Iris and Halo lidar sensors, key engineering and operations talent, and certain commercial contracts and orders.”

“It’s no secret that the lidar market was ripe for disruption and needed more consolidation,” said Glenn DeVos, CEO of MicroVision. “Building on our proven executive leadership in automotive, our history of developing and delivering products in defense, and now our even more broad portfolio of technologically diverse lidar sensors and advanced perception solutions, we believe MicroVision is poised to turn the industry on its head, enabling widespread commercial adoption and dramatically increasing safety.”

The sale of Luminar’s lidar business will now be subject to approval by a judge in the bankruptcy case. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

It’s not clear whether Luminar founder and former CEO Austin Russell has made a bid to buy his company’s lidar assets. Russell, through his new venture Russell AI Labs, attempted to buy the company outright in October 2025 before it filed for bankruptcy, and expressed interest in filing during the bankruptcy process. Representatives for Russell did not respond to a request for comment.

However, Russell and Luminar spent the first month of the bankruptcy case fighting over a subpoena. The company said it was still considering whether to take legal action against Russell, linked to his resignation last May, which followed an ethics investigation conducted by the board of directors. While Russell did hand over his computers to Luminar, he stuck with his phone until he received a guarantee from the company that any personal information on the device would be protected. Luminar accused him of evading the subpoena.

Russell eventually agreed to accept the subpoena last week. Over the weekend, he and Luminar filed a joint filing with the court outlining the terms of the protective order regarding his personal information.

If the lidar asset sale goes through, it could bring a fairly quick end to Luminar’s bankruptcy case, which was filed in December. The company has already reached an agreement to sell its other business division, centered around semiconductors, to Quantum Computing Inc. For $110 million.

This story has been updated with a statement from MicroVision.