The Daily Dish (3/9/21)
Welcome to the Daily Dish. Every morning in your inbox subscribers receive some Dishes that we find interesting and we think that you should know more about.
We’ll try to lob ‘em up to you in a simple, clean format that you can read in 5 minutes before the market opens. (Trust me, we know what it’s like to wake up at 9:23am).
Here’s the first assist 👇
SoFi Is Buying a Community Lender to Speed Up Banking Expansion
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Fintech startup Social Finance Inc. $IPOE agreed to buy a tiny California community lender to accelerate its push into the banking business.
The San Francisco-based company will spend about $22 million to acquire Golden Pacific Bancorp Inc., which has three branches in and around Sacramento and about $150 million in assets. SoFi plans to contribute an additional $750 million to capitalize the bank for a national, digital expansion should regulators approve the transaction.
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SoFi itself reached a deal in January to merge with a blank-check company run by tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya. The $8.7 billion deal, expected to close in the coming weeks, will take SoFi public and provide it with up to $2.4 billion in cash.
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SoFi has laid out a bold growth plan to investors. It said it expects to increase its user base to three million customers this year, up 75% from the 1.7 million it had in December. SoFi also told investors it expects adjusted net revenue from its lending business to increase 38% in 2021. Adjusted net revenue at its Galileo business—which provides software and technology to other fintech startups—and at its consumer-banking arm are expected to double and quadruple, respectively, SoFi said.
Mahomes, Osaka and Lewandowski Among Stars Advising Disruptive SPAC
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A slate of high-profile pro athletes including Patrick Mahomes and Naomi Osaka have joined with a tech-focused banker to form a new special purpose acquisition company seeking a business in health and wellness, entertainment or consumer-facing technology.
The SPAC—Disruptive Acquisition Corp. I—filed for a $250 million IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning. The SPAC founder is Alexander Davis, the owner of Disruptive Technology Advisors, a bank that works with tech companies in transactions such as providing liquidity for shares in privately owned companies.
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The blank check features an “Athlete Advisory Council” to help it identify potential business targets. The board features Mahomes, the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs and a part owner of the Kansas City Royals; Osaka, one of the world’s top tennis players—as well as Robert Lewandowski, a Polish striker who was crowned the top men’s soccer player in 2020 by FIFA; Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, and Canelo Alvarez Barragan, the reigning super middleweight world boxing champion.
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While athletes have been advisors to other SPACs, the creation of an athlete advisory council is unique. “Potential acquisition targets may find the company to be a more attractive partner in light of the athletes’ brand, reputation, reach and ability to contribute to the success of the target,” the SPAC stated in its prospectus. “We believe the athletes can provide significant consumer engagement and outreach via their fan base and social media platforms and can act as true brand ambassadors.
IonQ To Become The First Publicly Traded Pure-Play Quantum Computing Company
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IonQ is building the world’s best quantum computers to tackle challenges such as how to live sustainably on our planet, how to cure diseases, and how to efficiently move people and goods. Because these problems are based on quantum information rather than classical information, IonQ believes the best way to solve them is to use quantum computing. In addition to producing the first and only quantum computer available via the cloud on both Amazon Braket and Microsoft Azure, IonQ has defined what it believes to be the best path forward to scaling quantum computing power. By 2023, IonQ plans to develop modular quantum computers small enough to be networked together, which could pave the way for broad quantum advantage by 2025.
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“IonQ’s quantum computers are uniquely positioned to capture a market opportunity of approximately $65 billion by 2030. Quantum computers will create value across thousands of new applications, and IonQ is poised to be the first company able to fully exploit this massive opportunity,” said Niccolo de Masi, CEO of dMY III.
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The combined entity will receive approximately $300 million from dMY III’s trust account, assuming no redemptions by dMY III’s public stockholders, as well as $350 million in gross proceeds from a group of strategic and institutional investors participating in the transaction via a committed private placement investment (“PIPE”). In addition to Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation, new investors include Silver Lake, MSD Partners, L.P., and TIME Ventures, the investment fund for Marc Benioff. The PIPE includes additional investment by existing investors including, New Enterprise Associates, GV, and Mubadala Capital.
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