Skift Take
Are unique purpose acquisition business losing their shine? We’ll find out more in the coming months as other travel start-ups plan to go public.
Matthew Parsons, Skift
Indonesia’s Traveloka might not go through with a strategy to go public by merging with an unique function acquisition company (or SPAC) after all, according to reports.
The fast-growing travel reserving startup had been because of list through a handle Bridgetown Holdings, backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Hong Kong financier Richard Li.
To do that, it was first preparation to raise between $200 million and $400 million from investors, a process called private investment in public equity (PIPELINE). Nevertheless, Bloomberg has reported Traveloka’s board of directors has decided to pull out of a proposed listing via Bridgetown.
“Taking the business public is a natural development given Traveloka’s position as a category leader and goals to grow business further,” a spokesperson for Traveloka told Skift. “We stay committed to this goal and continue to consider the different choices available. At the very same time, we continue to be well-capitalized and are concentrated on choosing a path and timing that remains in the very best interests of the business and its stakeholders.”
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Enjoyment levels appear to dipping around SPACs, and Traveloka will likely check out going public via a conventional initial public offering in the U.S. rather, the report included.
“I’m presuming there wasn’t a clear offer to be done,” said one partner at a personal investment firm, who wished to withhold their name.
“In general the fad around SPACs and PIPEs related to them has dried up. We have actually looked at a number of travel related ones that have come out and my impression is that there is limited financier interest,” he said.
Yet there are more hospitality deals showing up.
In July, Vacasa participated in an arrangement to become a publicly traded company by means of a merger with TPG Speed Solutions, which would value the Portland, Oregon startup at $4.5 billion.
Sonder, meanwhile, wants to go public at a $2.2 billion market cap. Last month it reported a loss of $54.6 million for its second quarter.
Both will have a lot to prove as they ready to go public. “As much as managers like Vacasa and Sonder may try to pitch themselves as technology business, they are ops-heavy services, and this is going to display in either slower development than a tech company and/or more issues if and when they scale too quickly,” stated Andrew McConnell, CEO of Rented.
UPDATE: This short article has been amended to include remark from Traveloka.
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