Tech companies that planned to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company are facing a fork in the road: They can list now at valuations that look pricey next to comparable public stocks and run the risk of a steep sell-off after their market debuts. Or they can scrap their deals and shop for financing elsewhere—say, with a private fundraising at a potentially reduced valuation.
That decision is looming for tech companies that announced plans within the past year to merge with a SPAC and which now face deadlines to complete their deals. Many will likely spike or push off their SPAC agreements in the hope of finding rosier opportunities: Already this week biotechnology firm Blade Therapeutics canceled its merger with a SPAC, following decisions by media company Forbes and ticketing platform SeatGeek to call off their SPAC mergers over the past month.
Below we list six tech startups, ranging from car rental startup Getaround to digital freight platform Transfix to cryptocurrency issuer and payment firm Circle, all of which hope to complete their listings by year end, some as early as in the next few weeks.