SPAC Recap: 5 Merger Announcements, Merger Votes, New ETF Highlight Busy Week

Last week saw a flurry of activity in the SPAC world with several deals announced, merger vote dates and a new SPAC ETF.

Here are the new SPAC mergers that were announced last week.

Indie Semiconductor: This semiconductor and software company for the automotive industry is going public via SPAC Thunder Bridge Acquisition II THBR in a deal that values the company at about $1 billion.

Indie has deals in place with 12 tier-1 automotive suppliers and has already shipped more than 100 million devices. The company is increasing its OEM penetration and content per vehicle. Silicon content per vehicle amounts to $310 now and is expected to grow to $4,000 per vehicle, according to the company.

The company says it has a backlog of over $2 billion in deals. Revenue is estimated at $23 million for fiscal 2020 and is expected to ramp up beginning in 2023 with estimates of $204 million.

From 2020 to 2025, Indie sees revenue growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 85%. Over 60% of aggregate revenue through 2025 is already at the shipping or completed-agreement stage for the company.

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Blade: Helicopter company Blade announced plans to merge with SPAC Experience Investment Corp EXPC.

The company’s helicopters fly people in and out of U.S. city centers. The four key targets for Blade are short-distance flights of 60 to 100 miles, airport flights between New York airports, transporting human organs in the northeast U.S. and international joint ventures.

The company had revenue of $33 million in 2019 with 10 scheduled flight routes. The company expects revenue to hit $402 million in 2024 with 28 expected flight routes.

In 2025, the company plans to launch its eVTOL electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Revenue for 2025 is expected to hit $601 million and begin ramping up with the additional flying product.

AST: Satellite network company AST & Science LLC announced a merger with New Providence Acquisition Corp NPA.

Investors in AST include Rakuten, Vodafone Group VOD, Samsung, American Tower Corporation AMT and UBS Group UBS.

The company is attempting to build the first space-based broadband network accessible directly by regular mobile phones. Existing satellite networks require special phones or devices to connect to the services. 

AST is several years away from bringing in significant revenue. The company envisions having 9 million subscribers and $181 million in revenue in 2023.BarkBox: Bark, the parent company of the BarkBox monthly subscription for dog owners, is going public with Northern Star Acquisition Corp STIC.

Bark serves over 1 million dog owners monthly through BarkBox subscriptions and retailers such as Amazon.com AMZN, Target Corporation TGT, Petco, PetSmart and Costco Wholesale Corporation COST. Bark products can be found in over 23,000 stores.

BarkBox saw rapid growth during the pandemic. The company launched Bark Home in 2019 and Bark Eats and Bark Bright in 2020.

The pet industry was worth $96 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow. The company estimates fiscal 2021 revenue will grow 65% year-over-year to $365 million. Fiscal 2022 and 2023 totals are estimated at $516 million and $706 million, respectively.

The deal values Bark at 3.5x estimated 2021 revenue. Competitors Chewy Inc CHWY, Freshpet Inc FRPT and Trupanion Inc TRUP trade at multiples of 4.4x, 13.5x and 6.5x, respectively. The share prices of the three competitors are up by over 100% this year.

Katapult: Lease-to-own company Katapult is going public with Finserv Acquisition Corp FSRV. The company lets consumers pay for retail purchases in installments. The company says it has over 150 merchant partners and 1.4 million customers.

Revenue for Katapult was $92 million in fiscal 2019. Revenue is estimated to be $250 million in fiscal 2020. The company sees revenue growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 87% from 2020 to 2023 hitting $1.13 billion. Curo Group Holdings CURO owns 40% of Katapult and saw shares close 89% higher Friday. Curo said it will own 21% of the new company and receive $125 million in cash for its stake.

Merger Votes: Along with the new SPAC mergers that were announced, the past week saw several SPAC merger votes.

Opendoor will begin trading Monday under the ticker OPEN after completing its merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp II IPOB.

Clever Leaves Holdings Inc CLVR completed its merger with Schultze Special Purpose Acquisition Corp SAMA.

BurgerFi International BFI began trading under a new ticker last week after a successful merger with OPES Acquisition Corp OPES.

Mobile esports and betting company Skillz Inc SKLZ completed its merger with Flying Eagle Acquisition Corp FEAC.

Lancadia Holdings II LCA shares fell Friday on news that they did not get enough votes to complete their deal. A new vote will now be held on December 29.

New SPAC ETF: A new actively managed SPAC ETF was also launched with the SPAC and New Issues ETF SPCX from Tuttle Tactical Management. The ETF will hold units, common shares and possibly warrants.

The ETF holds SPACs with good management teams that have not announced deals yet. Churchill Capital Corp IV CCIV is the largest of 42 holdings, making up 6.7% of assets. Bill Foley’s Foley Transimene Acquisition WPF is the second largest holding. Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings VI IPOF and Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings V IPOE also are both in the top 10.

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