Smart mailbox startup Arrive AI plans NASDAQ listing by Q4

Smart mailbox maker Arrive AI is continuing its efforts to launch an initial public offering (IPO) after a previous effort to go public through a merger with a Canadian toothbrush vendor fell through earlier this summer.

The four-year-old firm says its goal is to provide a mailbox-as-a-service (MAAS) platform that supports last-mile delivery and pickup with a network of parcel-storage boxes that can be accessed by people, drones, or robots.

To fund that plan, the firm has been raising money in private rounds, but has long planned to eventually go public. To get there, it took three steps in 2023. First, Indianapolis-based Arrive AI rebranded from its initial name, Dronedek. It then acquired a rival smart mailbox provider, AirBox Technologies. And finally it announced plans for a “triangular reverse merger” with the e-commerce electric toothbrush retailer Bruush Oral Care Inc., which at the time was traded publicly on the NASDAQ exchange.

That business maneuver would have allowed Arrive AI’s stock to trade in the market. But before they could consummate the marriage, Bruush was delisted from NASDAQ for failing to file required paperwork, and Arrive AI terminated the merger deal in June.

Now the company says it will try again, saying today that it has switched its planned ticker symbol "ARRV" to the new symbol "ARAI." Arrive AI is preparing to end its latest crowdsourcing effort, and says its direct listing on NASDAQ is targeted for the fourth quarter of this year.

"We are getting closer to being listed on the Nasdaq and have been actively meeting with the SEC and investment bankers in New York to finalize our public offering,” Arrive AI CEO Dan O'Toole said in a release. “Going public is a critical step for us as we continue to expand our market presence and deliver our smart mailboxes to consumers and companies building autonomous delivery networks.”