The Daily Dish (6/24/21)
Digital Media Giant BuzzFeed Going Public via SPAC
BuzzFeed is going public through an SPAC merger with 890 5th Avenue Partners, with the deal valuing the company at around $1.5 billion. The SPAC currently holds $288 million in cash with BuzzFeed securing an additional $150 million in convertible note financing.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the year with the company trading under the new symbol ‘BZFD’.
The company is planning to use the cash to acquire digital media company, Complex Networks, increasing its efforts in the digital media space.
Complex is valued at around $300 million, with owners Hearst and Verizon, receiving $200 million in cash and $100 million in stock.
BuzzFeed includes the digital brand and website, BuzzFeed News and Tasty. The company acquired HuffPost from Verizon Media In 2020. The company had annual revenues of $421 million in 2020 and expects to have $521 million in 2021.
Peter Theil Backed Crypto Exchange In Talks for SPAC Merger
Bullish, a crypto exchange is in talks with fintech focused company Far Peak Acquisition Corp for an SPAC merger, with a deal valuing the company at around $12 billion, while also being conditional at the price of bitcoin at the time.
Current investors in the company include Peter Theil, Galaxy Digital and Nomura Holdings.
Bullish was announced as a subsidiary of Block.one in May and was capitalised with $10 billion in cash and 164,000 bitcoins.
SPAC mergers have become popular for crypto based companies to go public, with exchanges such as eToro and fintech SoFi announcing SPAC mergers recently.
Ad Tech Company Innovid Planning SPAC Merger
Innovid, a 14-year old ad tech company is planning an SPAC merger with ION Acquisition Corp 2, with the deal valuing the company at $1.3 billion. The company runs a software platform which helps advertisers create, deliver and measure ads on video streaming platforms.
The company’s client base include L’Oréal, Toyota and GlaxoSmithKline and works with advertising platforms including Hulu, Rocky, YouTube and Snapchat. The company closely competes with Google’s campaign manager, but unlike Google’s broad efforts, Innovid primarily focuses on digital TV.
The company also announced that it had secured $150 million in financing from investors including Fidelity Management, Vintage and Baron Capital. The current investors of the company include Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, Newspring, Genesis Partners and Vintage.
