More companies went public via special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, during 2020 and 2021 than in all previous years combined. Also known as blank-check companies, SPACs brought many high-profile companies to the public markets, including Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) and DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) , as well as many early-stage businesses that likely wouldn't have gone public without the SPAC route.
During this massive SPAC boom, no sponsor of blank-check companies has received more attention than Chamath Palihapitiya.
Palihapitiya is widely credited with starting the SPAC boom when he took Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) public in 2019. Other Palihapitiya-backed SPACs were responsible for bringing Opendoor (NASDAQ: OPEN) , Clover Health (NASDAQ: CLOV) , SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) , ProKidney (NASDAQ: PROK) , and Akili Health (NASDAQ: AKLI) public. And that's not to mention the numerous SPACs Palihapitiya didn't sponsor but funded through private investment rounds.
For further details see:
Did This News Just Mark the End of the SPAC Boom?