Bakkt, a provider of institutional and retail solutions for digital assets that Intercontinental Exchange launched in 2018, will go public following its merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings.
In a statement released on Monday, Bakkt and VPC said that the merged company, which will be called Bakkt Holdings, Inc. will be listed as a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange with an enterprise value of $2.1 billion.
The business agreement will raise $532 million from VPC’s trust account and concurrent capital raise, which will be used to support the development and marketing of the Bakkt App.
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Bakkt’s mobile app allows users to unlock crypto assets, loyalty points, in-game assets and gift cards, and currently supports over 30 loyalty program sponsors and over 200 gift card merchants. It is currently available by invite only but the plan is to make it more accessible to more consumers by March 2021.
New CEO
Gavin Michael, who previously served as head of technology for Citi’s Global Consumer Bank, head of the digital team for Chase, and Chief Technology Innovation Officer at Accenture was appointed as Bakkt’s new CEO on Monday.
“The average consumer holds a wealth of digital assets but rarely tracks their value and lacks the tools to manage and utilize them,<…>I’m excited to join the management team of a company, at this important time in its expansion, whose vision is to bring trust and transparency to digital assets through innovation and technology and, through that process, unlock trillions of dollars currently held in customer and loyalty accounts and allow consumers to put them to work.” Michael said.
SPACs
VPC is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) affiliated with Victory Park Capital, which was founded by former Antares Capital co-CEO John Martin last year.
SPACs are companies with no commercial operations and are primarily focused on buying or merging with another company and get it listed on the stock markets.
Data from Goldman Sachs show that SPAC deals account for more than 52 percent of the more than $140 billion IPO capital raised in the United States last year. Finbold.com also reported in December that direct investments in SPACs by Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) grew by over 2,500% year-over-year.
Goldman’s head of chief U.S. equity strategy David Kostin said they expect the high level of SPAC activities to continue in 2021.
