Xos Inc, an electric commercial vehicle maker, on Monday agreed to go public through a merger with blank-check firm NextGen Acquisition Corp, in a deal valuing the combined entity at $2 billion. The deal will provide Xos with $575 million in gross proceeds, including a $220 million private investment led by Janus Henderson Investors and a consortium of truck dealers led by Thompson Truck Centers. Reuters reported earlier this month that Xos was nearing a deal to go public with NextGen. Xos would be the latest company developing an electric truck to go public through a merger with a SPAC, following the likes of Nikola Corp and Lion Electric Co. North Hollywood, California-based Xos, which rebranded itself from Thor in 2019, builds electric trucks designed to replace equivalent diesel vans. Its customers include package delivery United Parcel Service Inc and cash-handling firm Loomis. NextGen, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), raised $350 million through an initial public offering (IPO) last year. The SPACs share were up 3.2% in premarket trade. SPACs are shell companies which raise funds in an IPO to acquire a private company. SPACs provide companies with an alternative route to enter public markets and have gained popularity among Wall Street investors in recent times. The combined entity will be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol “XOS” after the merger. BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co LLC are serving as exclusive financial advisers to Xos and NextGen, respectively.