The Daily Dish (6/29/21)
Welcome to the Daily Dish. We are your morning briefing for the SPAC market. Every day we’ll provide you a digest of the top headlines of the previous day and an outline of the day ahead.
Carousell Valued at $1.5 Billion in a Potential SPAC Deal
Carousell, an online classified marketplace operator is planning an SPAC merger to go public in the US. The company operates in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Carousell recorded a staggering 124% revenue growth in 2020 with the key drivers including the momentum around E-commerce and Digital Payments in Southeast Asia.
Looking at the numbers, it’s encouraging to see that 70% of the company’s visitors are millennials and a third of its revenues now come from the used car marketplace. In November 2019, Carousell merged with 701 Search, a classifieds firm, valuing the combined entity at $850 million.
In September 2020, the company inched closer to unicorn status when it landed a $80 million investment from South Korean Tech company Naver, valuing the firm at $900 million. Herston Powers, managing partner at 1982 ventures believes that the company will command a valuation of $1.5 billion after the SPAC merger and has significant growth ahead.
Payoneer Drops on Debut
Shares in online financial services company Payoneer Global, dropped close to 4% on its Nasdaq debut after its SPAC merger with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp.
Payoneer offers financial services, including cross border payments platform and digital payments services, targeting businesses and freelancers worldwide to pay and get paid.
The company’s weak debut comes after a string of strong performances of other SPAC’s. This includes technological company SoFi, which saw shares jump 12% in its debut on June 1st and 23andMe, which saw a surge of 21% on its first day of listing.
IronSource Debuts after SPAC Merger
Israel Based Mobile Monetization platform IronSource, will list on the NYSE after the completion of its SPAC merger. IronSource had a merger with Thoma Bravo Advantage, valuing the combined entity at $11.1 billion.
The deal is expected to raise $2.15 billion in cash for both shareholders and the company, with an additional private investment planned in the next few months from Tiger Global Management, Counterpoint Global, Hedosophia and Wellington Management.
The combined entity is expected to operate under the IronSource name. Ironsource primarily derives revenues from game companies and the deal is the latest to be driven by the rise in popularity of mobile games.
As a public company, IronSource is expected to benefit from the financial and operational support of Thoma Bravo, which has made more than 300 software investments.
