The one-time SPAC King who raised 10 blank-check vehicles — four of which never completed deals to take companies public — comes back as the industry’s post-crash revival gains momentum, fueled by a wave of crypto deals as well as sponsors linked to President Donald Trump’s family. More than US$16 billion has been raised across 81 SPACs this year, data from SPAC Research show, with the total value already eclipsing the total combined for 2023 and 2024.
Chamath Palihapitiya is returning to the blank-check game after throwing in the towel in 2022 on a pair of jumbo firms that failed to find targets.
The former Facebook executive who became the public face of the SPAC mania during the original boom-and-bust filed late on Monday for a US$250 million initial public offering for American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp A, joining the ranks of sponsors giving special purpose acquisition companies another go. The blank-check firm will seek to bring a company that can benefit from Palihapitiya’s “historical areas of business expertise,” according to the filing.
