SPACInsider

Planet Co-Founder & CEO Will Marshall and dMY CEO Niccolo de Masi Discuss the Private Space Sector

On this week's episode we talk with Planet Co-Founder and CEO Will Marshall about the private space sector. Planet announced a $2.3 billion business combination with dMY Technology Group IV in July. Planet provides data services to a raft of industries powered by its fleet of 200 satellites generating a complete image of the earth's surface every day.  dMY Technology CEO Niccolo de Masi also joins us to discuss the SPAC side of the transaction and why he's been eager to get a deal done with Planet since his first SPAC. 

Bonus Episode: Niccolo de Masi, CEO of the dMY Technology SPACs Discusses the Current SPAC Market

As a special bonus episode, we talked Niccolo de Masi, the CEO of the dMY Technology SPACs, three of which have already completed successful combinations and with dMY IV looking to close their combination shortly. We cover Niccolo's view of the current state of the SPAC market and how he and his team approach working with companies to take them public via the SPAC route.

Kin Insurance CEO & Co-Founder Sean Harper and Omnichannel Chairman & CEO Matt Higgins Discuss the Homeowner Insurance Market

This week we speak with Sean Harper, CEO and co-founder of Kin Insurance. Kin announced a business combination with Omnichannel Acquisition Corp in July. Omnichannel Chairman and CEO Matt Higgins also joins us to discuss the SPAC-side perspective on the transaction. Kin is applying machine learning and data science to the homeowner insurance market – one that has stubbornly resisted technological change for decades. We talk about how Kin has gotten over the high barriers to entry in that industry and how much a direct-to-consumer business model could shake up the business.

Aurora Co-Founder & CEO Chris Urmson on the Future of Self-Driving Vehicles

On this week's podcast, we speak with Aurora Co-Founder and CEO Chris Urmson, on the future of driverless technology in both the freight trucking and taxi markets. We talk about the winding path that autonomous vehicles have taken and what steps are still necessary for Aurora to debut its first driverless trucks in 2023. Will people even drive cars in the future? Take a listen.

Gogoro Co-Founder & CEO Horace Luke and Poema Global‘s CEO Homer Sun discuss the advantages of mobility battery swapping in Asian markets.

On this week's podcast, we speak with Gogoro's Co-Founder and CEO Horace Luke about the future of mobility in Asia and their innovative new business model in the middle of the electric vehicle revolution. Namely, the advantages of battery swapping for e-bikes and mopeds in the Asian markets. 

Quanergy CEO Kevin Kennedy on Lidar‘s Opportunities

This week on the SPACInsider podcast we talk about how Quanergy makes lidar arrays for a variety of navigation and imaging applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to smart cities and crowd control. Each of these subsectors differ as both technical challenges and business opportunities. We also discuss how many standalone lidar companies the public markets can handle as new niches and applications continue to be found.

Embark Co-Founder & CEO Alex Rodrigues on the Future of Driverless Trucking

On this week's podcast, we speak with Embark's Co-Founder and CEO Alex Rodrigues, on the future of self-driving and revolutionizing freight trucking. Embark announced a business combination with Northern Genesis II (Nasdaq: NGAB) on June 23rd of this year. Embark's technology allows trucks to navigate completely autonomously along long stretches of highway and its platform is already in use on public roads. We talk about how the challenge of driverless trucks are different from driverless cars and while we'll be seeing many more of them much sooner than you think. Take a listen

Shapeways CEO Greg Kress on 3D Printing and the Future of Digital Manufacturing

This week on the SPACInsider Podcast, we will be speaking with Greg Kress, CEO of Shapeways. Shapeways, which announced a combination with Galileo Acquisition Corp. in April, allows customers to have digitally designed products manufactured and sent to them via its unique software platform. It is at the center of the fascinating additive manufacturing space, which has seen a bevy of SPAC transactions. We talk about the forces driving the adoption of additive manufacturing and the economics of providing 3D-printing and other tools at the different levels of the value chain.

Wejo Founder & CEO Richard Barlow on Vehicle Data and Analytics

On this week's podcast, Kristi Marvin and Nick Clayton speak with Richard Barlow, the Founder & CEO of Wejo, the vehicle data and analytics company which announced a SPAC combination with Virtuoso Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:VOSO) on May 28, 2021. The Manchester, UK-based Wejo has developed a data analysis suite based on tracking connected cars for a wide array of clients seeking predictive intelligence of vehicle ownership, traffic flows and more. We spoke with Richard about the company's business model and the evolving vehicle-data landscape.

AdTheorent CEO Jim Lawson on the Changing Adtech Space

This week on the SPACInsider podcast, Nick Clayton and Marlena Haddad speak with Jim Lawson, CEO of AdTheorent, which announced a business combination with MCAP Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:MACQ) last month. It is at the forefront of the rapidly changing advertising technology space and we talked to him about what the death of cookies means for the advertising landscape.