Palihapitiya, who has floated 10 blank-check vehicles since his first one in 2017, became the face of the SPAC mania before throwing in the towel.
Chamath Palihapitiya, known for his bold moves with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), has filed for the public market offering of a new blank-check firm, according to a securities filing on Monday.
Palihapitiya’s American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp. A is seeking to raise $250 million via an IPO by selling 25 million shares at $10 each. According to the filing on Monday, the blank-check firm will focus mainly on energy, artificial intelligence, decentralized finance, and defense areas.
In a letter accompanying the filing, Palihapitiya wrote: “I believe the biggest gains in the future will come from companies that are involved in fixing the fundamental risks that come from our interconnected global order while reinforcing American exceptionalism.”
He also acknowledged that SPACs are not suited to every company.
A SPAC or blank-check firm lists on the stock exchange and aims to acquire one or multiple companies through investors’ money. The process helps companies avoid the paperwork, compliance, and investor marketing otherwise required through a direct IPO.
SPACs boomed in 2020 and 2021, raising record sums and taking hundreds of companies public, but the frenzy quickly cooled. By 2022, the market soured due to a combination of poor post-merger performance, regulatory scrutiny, and blank-check firms failing to close acquisitions.
Palihapitiya, who has floated 10 blank-check vehicles since his first one in 2017, became the face of the SPAC mania before throwing in the towel in 2022.
SPACs have seen renewed momentum lately, driven by a surge in crypto-related deals and a frothy market for IPOs in general. More than $16 billion has been raised across 81 SPACs this year, according to a Bloomberg report. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the broader S&P 500 gauge, has gained over 10% this year.
Palihapitiya is the founder of venture capital firm Social Capital and has earlier worked at Meta, then known as Facebook.
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