SPACInsider

Dr. Denis Phares, CEO of Dragonfly Energy and Jonas Grossman, CEO/President of Chardan NexTech 2

This week, we speak with Dr. Denis Phares, CEO of Dragonfly Energy and Jonas Grossman, CEO and President of Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp. (Nasdaq: CNTQ). The two announced a $501 million combination agreement in May. 

Dragonfly has been attacking a less-talked-about corner of the energy storage market by providing lithium-ion solutions for boats, RVs and off-grid homes. Although this has been profitable work for several years running, Dragonfly’s operations in this niche have always been designed to set the stage for a much bigger technological and organizational transition into solid state systems. 

We talk about the areas of the market where outdated lead acid batteries still dominate, while Jonas gives us the SPAC-side view on what teams should be looking for in the current market conditions.

 

Anil Mathews, Founder & CEO of Near

This week, we speak with Anil Mathews, Founder and CEO of Near.

Near announced a $754 million combination agreement with KludeIn I Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: INKA), in May of this year.

We discuss how Near has built a data platform capable of tracking the activity of 1.6 billion consumers and how it has grown this platform geographically from the global East to West.

Anil also describes the work that goes into protecting and enriching this data to ensure regulatory compliance and drive further insights. He also talks about what it has been like to pull together a SPAC deal amid the market’s shifting tides and how Near plans to put its new share and cash capital to use.

Bonus Episode: Jim Zukin discuss his new Reasonable Basis Review (”RBR”) product

On this special edition, SPACInsider’s founder Kristi Marvin and Nick Clayton speak with Jim Zukin, Chairman and Founder of Zukin Certification Services. 

Zukin Certification Services has recently expanded its offerings from examining the public-company readiness of potential SPAC targets to providing a reasonable basis review for companies’ financial projections.

Jim describes why he thinks SEC has essentially invented a new service with its proposed SPAC rule changes and how such reviews of company projections could become a standard practice in other M&A transactions.

Give it a listen

American Acquisition Opportunity, Inc. CFO, Kirk Taylor

This week, we speak with Kirk Taylor, President and CFO of American Acquisition Opportunity Inc.

It announced a $97 million combination agreement with Royalty Management Corporation in June.

Royalty Management has pulled together a range of unique financing deals that give it royalties on business activities ranging from water treatment utilities to coal exploration and land renewal.

Kirk discusses how the available PIPE terms for SPACs have changed over the past year, and how redemptions turned from an impediment to an unexpected advantage as his SPAC sought out a right-sized target.

Freightos CEO Zvi Schreiber and Gesher I Acquisition Corp. CEO Ezra Gardner

This week, we speak with Zvi Schreiber, CEO of Freightos, and Ezra Gardner, CEO of Gesher I Acquisition Corp.

The two companies entered into a $436 million business combination last month. Freightos provides a freight-shipping marketplace that works much like a flight-booking website.

Zvi Schreiber talks about why the freight shipping space remains largely un-digitized and how the visibility his digital platform has achieved has spun into financial derivatives and sustainability metrics.

Ezra also gets into why Gesher I made sure early in its process that it lined up enough committed capital for its transaction, and what advice he has for other SPAC teams in the current climate.

 

Voltus CEO Gregg Dixon

This week, we will be speaking with Voltus CEO Gregg Dixon. Voltus entered into a $822 million combination agreement with Broadscale Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SCLE), in December of 2021.

Voltus runs software that allows customers to manage their distributed energy resources in a way that both monetizes the energy they have stored and reduces the strain on the wider grid.

We talk about how much of the market is already available for these kinds of services and how the rest can be tapped into over time, and how the market will change once there is more power available from plugged in electric cars than from power plants.

Give it a listen.

Nauticus Robotics Founder & CEO Nic Radford and CleanTech Acquisition Corp’s Eli Spiro

This week, we speak with Nic Radford, Founder and CEO of Nauticus Robotics and Eli Spiro, CEO of CleanTech Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: CLAQ).

The two announced a $377 million dollar combination agreement in December of 2021.

Leveraging experience developing robotics for use in space for NASA, Nic and his team are deploying a fleet of state-of-the-art underwater robots that can perform inspection and maintenance tasks on energy installations, ports and telecom infrastructure among other use cases.

He talks about how Nauticus’ robot-as-a-service business model has potential to disrupt the $30 billion market the company is attacking.

And Eli also gets into what it has been like on the inside of a SPAC search process under current market conditions and how he put his Goldman Sachs experience to use.

 

Semantix GM Andre Frederico and Alpha Capital’s Co-Founder & CEO Rafael Steinhauser

This week, we spoke with Andre Frederico, general manager for Latin America data firm Semantix and Rafael Steinhauser, co-founder and CEO of Alpha Capital. 

Semantix entered into an $693 million dollar combination agreement with Alpha Capital Acquisition Company in November.

Semantix is becoming a leading regional player in the Latin American cloud and data services market out of its base in Brazil. We also get into Alpha Capital’s search process and the benefits it found in focusing on the Latin American market exclusively from the start.

Wag CEO Garrett Smallwood & CHW Acquisition Corp’s Jonah Raskas

This week, we speak with Garrett Smallwood, CEO of Wag. Wag entered into an $350 million dollar combination agreement with CHW Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: CHWA) in February. It has created a marketplace for connecting pet owners to dog-walkers and other pet services near them that works like Uber, except for our furry friends.

We talk about Wag’s strategy for stacking predictable revenue streams and how the company aims to translate the short-term challenges of the pandemic into a long-term boon.

CHW Co-CEO Jonah Raskas also joins to discuss how Wag stands out among the growing cohort of listed pet service companies and which important aspects of its business model investors should keep an eye on.

Rubicon Founder & CEO Nate Morris

This week we are speaking with Nate Morris, Founder and CEO of Rubicon, the "Uber" of trash collection. Rubicon entered into an $1.7 billion deal with Founder SPAC in December.

Rubicon is bringing digitization to a sector that has long resisted change in waste management. We discuss how visibility is key in the new ESG landscape. Nate also walks through how garbage could be the next big tech play and how the digital garbage man can reap dividends as the holder of new commodities.