💥They're Real and They're SPACtacular. Part II.💥

According to SPAC Research, there were 248 SPAC IPOs in 2020 totaling $83.4b in proceeds. While it may seem that SPACs aren’t as much of a thing in 2021 – President Trump’s new media company notwithstanding – SPAC issuance is hotter than ever (even if PIPE financing may not be). 489 SPACs have IPO’d already in 2021, raising $136.7b.

Not to state the obvious here, but there are an army of vehicles out there with a boat load of money chasing deals. 608 vehicles to be exact. 608 SPACs are “active,” meaning they’re either pre-deal or “live deal,” which means the de-SPAC merger hasn’t happened yet. 🤯

A. How Are “Distressed SPACs” Doing?

While it may seem like 607 of those 608 SPACs are what we’ve dubbed “distressed SPACs” — i.e., SPACs that purport to be focused on identifying and completing a business combination with companies emerging from a reorganization or distressed situation — they’re not quite THAT ubiquitous.

Which is not to say that this isn’t a busy time for those vehicles. This week the BowX Acquisition transaction with WeWork Inc. ($WE) reached its logical conclusion with WE finally hitting the public markets. Even though it’s not a tech company that just merged with a SPAC targeting a tech company, investors seemed to overcome the cognitive dissonance:

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