May was a busy time for exits; GCV reported various multimillion and multibillion deals across sectors.
Ginkgo Bioworks, a US-based microbe engineering services provider that counts genomics technology producer Illumina as a backer, announced a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company (Spac) Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. The latter raised $1.73bn through its own IPO in February and the combined company will take its spot on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
The deal valued the merged business at $17.5bn and included a $775m private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing, co-led by Putnam Investments, Baillie Gifford and Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Counterpoint Global vehicle. Launched in 2009, Ginkgo has developed a cellular programming technology used to grow organisms for industrial applications such as nutritional products, consumer goods and fragrances.
US-based automated driving technology developer Plus, which counts among its backers electronics producer Quanta Computer, automotive component maker Wanxiang, carmaker SAIC and trucking services firm Full Truck Alliance, agreed to a reverse merger with Spac Hennessy Capital Investment Corp V at a $3.3bn valuation. The merged company will take the Nasdaq Capital Market listing that was secured by Hennessy in a $300m IPO in February. Funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and DE Shaw Group were among the participants in an additional $150m PIPE deal supporting the transaction. Formerly known as Plus.ai, Plus is developing level 4 autonomous driving software, sensors and cameras for use in the trucking industry. Level 4 is where a vehicle is driven autonomously with a human driver in reserve.
There was no shortage of notable acquisitions. Kakao Entertainment, an entertainment subsidiary of internet group Kakao, agreed to purchase two of its portfolio companies – US-based short-form fiction platform developers Radish and Tapas Media, for $440m and $510m, respectively. The acquisitions would allow several corporate investors to exit. Among them are subsidiaries of internet and telecoms conglomerate SoftBank, financial services firm SBI and internet service provider Daum Communications. Founded in 2012, Tapas runs an online platform for ‘bite-sized’ webcomics and novels. Launched in 2016, Radish runs a mobile app platform through which users can read serialised fiction from a variety of genres.
The surge in exit transactions is a trend that has been going on over the past few years. Record highs were registered in 2020 (380 transactions), along with record total estimated dollars in them last year ($120bn). Just over the first four months of 2021, we have already tracked 214 exits, worth an estimated $78.14bn, which suggests that the trend is still at full speed.
