SPACInsider

Brandon Mintz, CEO of Bitcoin Depot & Gus Garcia, from GSR II Meteora

It has been a bumpy year for crypto, but what if there was a way to invest in the space while dodging the volatility?

Bitcoin Depot hopes to be that stock and announced a $755 million dollar combination with GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corp. in August.

This week, we speak with Brandon Mintz, CEO of Bitcoin Depot. Brandon tells us how Bitcoin Depot has managed to build a crypto business without holding any crypto by serving customers through thousands of Bitcoin-trading cash ATM.

Its recent financial performance has seen it continue to grow through the crypto highs and lows and generate profits in a manner uncorrelated with Bitcoin prices.

GSR II Meteora Co-CEO Gus Garcia also joins to discuss why that fact was so important to his team’s calculus in striking a deal with Bitcoin Depot.

 

Plastiq Founder & CEO Eliot Buchanan

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are hard to market to and are routinely under-banked, so how can financial services firms reach them?

This week, we speak with Plastiq Founder and CEO Eliot Buchanan.

Plastiq specializes in providing payments services to SMBs and it signed a $480 million combination with Colonnade Acquisition Corp II (NYSE: CLAA) in August.

Eliot tells us how Plastiq has made inroads in this slice of the market and managed to dodge the impacts of the pandemic on its customer base.

We also discuss how some of the macro headwinds blowing towards SPACs actually provide a competitive advantage for Plastiq’s operations.

 

Abacus Life President and CEO Jay Jackson

What is your life insurance policy worth while you’re still living? This week, we speak with Abacus Life President and CEO Jay Jackson who may just want to buy yours.

Abacus Life has made a business of buying consumer life insurance policies for upfront payments and holding them until maturity.

To help bring this particular kind of transaction more into the mainstream, Abacus Life announced a $618 million combination with East Resources Acquisition Company on August 30.

He explains how these policies can be bundled together to create uncorrelated assets that are attractive to institutions for hedging, and why he sees a SPAC deal as the right way to fuel the growth of Abacus Life’s model.

 

De-SPACs and Projections - A Discussion with Jim Zukin and Christian Nagler

SPACs and the use of projections have gotten a fair amount of attention this year from both the media and the SEC. And, the pending SEC SPAC Rule could have an additional effect on how bankers and SPAC teams handle projections in the future.

However, Jim Zukin, of Zukin Certification Services ("ZCS"), and Christian Nagler, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, join us to break it all down and give us some context as to how projections have been used in the past, as well as how they're currently being addressed given the current regulatory landscape.

Jim also discusses the Reasonable Basis Review, or "RBR", which was created to provide a review of an operating company's projections as an additional layer of diligence by a third party in IPOs and M&A transactions. In fact, the RBR is already in use in a number of De-SPAC transactions.

Join us to hear more about what SPACs can expect from the use of projections going forward.

 

Getaround Founder & CEO Sam Zaid and Interprivate II Chairman & CEO Ahmed Fattouh

Is it possible to do to the car rental industry what Airbnb has done for travel accommodation? That is Getaround’s thesis as it runs a marketplace where people can rent out their personal cars for short trips, and it announced a $900 million combination agreement with Interprivate II Acquisition Corp. in May. 

This week, we speak with Getaround founder and CEO Sam Zaid about how the pandemic accelerated shifts in the way we drive and how car sharing fits into future.

Interprivate II Chairman and CEO Ahmed Fattouh also joins to discuss why Getaround fits the profile of companies the market is ready for now. As a serial SPAC sponsor, Ahmed also shares his take for how the SPAC landscape is shaping up.

 

FiscalNote Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder Tim Hwang

The market is down, but so are valuations for private companies looking at their strategic options. There are now bargains to be had for recent de-SPACs looking to execute a post-listing roll-up strategy, according to FiscalNote Chairman, CEO and co-founder Tim Hwang.

This week, we catch up with Tim to talk about how his company has kept busy in the two months since closing its combination with Duddell Street.

Tim reflects on how FiscalNote was able to prioritize key conditions in getting the right SPAC deal and how it is already taking advantage of being a publicly company.

FiscalNote collects data on the regulatory processes in the US and abroad from federal institutions all the way down to local school boards. Tim also talks about the growing demand for data in these realms and how the pandemic increased the number of touch points governments at every level have on business operations.

 

Selina CEO/Co-Founder Rafael Museri and BOA President /CFO Ben Friedman

People are traveling again, but not many hotel chains focused on Millennial and Gen Z customers have achieved a global scale.

Selina is hoping to be that company. It signed a $996 million combination agreement with BOA Acquisition Corp. in December 2021 and it is now approaching its close.

This week we speak with Selina CEO and Co-Founder Rafael Museri and BOA President and CFO Ben Friedman.

They talk about why Selina has such a unique pitch to both customers and investors in this moment where the market is jumping from the pandemic to a risk-off climate. And, how its asset-light approach has put profitability squarely in its sights without sacrificing growth.

 

Gorilla Technology’s Jay Chandan & Raj Natarajan Discuss AI solutions in the Edge Computing Space

This week we speak with Jay Chandan, Chairman and CEO of Gorilla Technology, and Raj Natarajan, its Chief Innovation Officer.

Gorilla closed a $720 million combination with Global SPAC Partners in July and has since been a bright spot among recent de-SPACs, consistently trading in the $11 to $12 range.

Jay and Raj explain how the 20-year-old video intelligence company is meeting the growing demand for new AI solutions in the edge computing space, and how its mix of public readiness and a willingness to make changes to the initial deal to meet the changing market have helped Gorilla to be successful post-close.

Gastón Paladini, Co-founder and CEO of Moolec Science

We all know you can make alternative meats out of plants, but what about growing meat from plants? This week, we speak with Gastón Paladini, Co-founder and CEO of Moolec Science, which announced a $504 million dollar combination with LightJump Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: LJAQ) in June.

Moolec is pioneering a new way to achieve plant-based foods by taking dairy and meat proteins and programming the soy and pea-plant seeds to grow it themselves.

Paladini discusses how his background in the conventional foods industry gives Moolec the upper hand in proving its technology, and how its journey as a de-SPAC of a de-SPAC gives it unique opportunities to accelerate towards commercialization.

Len Liptak, CEO of ProSomnus, and Bill Chen, CEO & Chairman of Lakeshore Acquisition I Corp.

This week, we speak with Len Liptak, CEO of ProSomnus Sleep Technologies, which announced a $168 million combination with Lakeshore Acquisition I Corp. (Nasdaq: LAAA), in May.

ProSomnus has developed a new device to treat obstructive sleep apnea that disrupts the need for its millions of sufferers to be connected to ventilators at night. Len explains how the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for sleep apnea treatments, and how this deal will help power its continued commercialization.

Lakeshore I CEO and Chairman Bill Chen joins to tell us why it was important that ProSomnus is already generating revenue and how SPACs can still compete for quality targets in the current market.