When electric vehicle startup Canoo announced it would merge with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corporation last week, it was the latest example of an increasingly common trend in private tech: going public via a special purpose acquisition company, a cash-rich empty shell of a company whose only purpose is to acquire a business.
An explosion of SPAC listings this year—75 so far raised more than $30 billion, according to website SPACInsider—presents private tech firms with opportunities to do such a deal. Before Canoo, electric vehicle maker Nikola, sports betting website DraftKings, space travel company Virgin Galactic and insurance tech firm MultiPlan had all merged with SPACs. Hims is reportedly negotiating to merge with Oaktree Acquisition Corp. To give you some idea which companies might be next, we’ve put together a list of possible SPAC acquisition targets, based on our reporting.
