The IPO thaw might be over before it even really started, but there’s at least one type of firm still testing the market — special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs for short. Through public offerings, SPACs have already raised $4.8B this year across 27 IPOs, aiming to find suitable private players to bring to Wall Street through the unconventional tactic.
- Despite a drought in new listings, 59% of new listings so far in 2025 have been through SPACs, putting activity closer to historic levels during the pandemic.
- Deals with brokerage Webull, autonomous trucking upstart Kodiak Robotics, and crypto venture Fold highlight the renewed SPAC interest.
Beware the come-SPAC: SPACs saw religious interest from retail investors during the pandemic, who even began speculating — especially on businesses from celebrity investors like Bill Ackman and Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital — before mergers were even announced. However, many SPACs failed to entice a merger, with 499 of the 1,451 SPACs since 2003 choosing to liquidate. And among those that did deSPAC, they often awaited a worse fate than liquidation — bankruptcy, as outfits like 23andMe, Astra, and WeWork headlined the SPAC struggles.
