Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
Latest SPAC News: Kolors acquires Urbvan from Swvl to transform corporate bus travel in Mexico and Faze Clan loses its hype
Kolors acquires Urbvan to transform corporate bus travel in Mexico
Kolors, a Mexico City-based startup that connects intercity bus riders with bus drivers, is acquiring B2B van pooling provider Urbvan for $12 million cash, the company shared Wednesday.
The purchase of Urbvan, which was previously owned by a Dubai-based Kolors competitor Swvl (NASDAQ:SWVL), brings a door-to-door solution to Kolors’s service in Mexico. Urbvan has a similarly asset-light business model with over 500 vans and shuttles on its platforms and hundreds of B2B clients.
Urbvan is already a profitable and growing business, according to Martínez, so it’s not entirely clear why Swvl would decide to sell. The company acquired Urbvan in July 2022 to expand its reach into Mexico, but sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch Swvl has been selling off parts of its business internationally for the past year as it struggles to stay afloat. Swvl went public in 2021 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
From $1 Billion to Almost Worthless: FaZe Clan Runs Out of Hype
Three months after its July 2022 debut on the Nasdaq, FaZe Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:FAZE) threw an exclusive party at a San Diego nightclub, hiring the rapper Travis Scott to promote its stable of video-game stars and YouTube personalities.
The party, which cost $1.7 million, got the company and a sponsor’s name in hundreds of Google search results, YouTube videos and Instagram stories. Lee Trink, FaZe’s chief executive officer at the time, hailed the event as a great success.
But with losses mounting and the shares tumbling, the company fired Trink, 55, on Sept. 9, replacing him on an interim basis with Chief Financial Officer Christoph Pachler. Interviews with seven former employees describe a mismanaged organization marked by poor spending decisions, excessive pay and expansion into unprofitable categories like esports.
In the first half of 2023, FaZe posted a loss of $28 million. Sales tumbled 30% to $24.2 million.
FaZe became a publicly traded company on July 19, 2022, paying off its debt and receiving $57.8 million in net proceeds, less than originally anticipated. B. Riley Financial Inc. remains the company’s largest stockholder, with a 14% stake worth about $2 million.
At the SPAC of Dawn Lately de-SPACs have been announcing corporate moves of a kind frequently in trios as was the case earlier this week when WeBull (NASDAQ:BULL), AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) and Quantum-Si (NASDAQ:QSI) all announced major equity raises. This week, it is a trio of de-SPACs making reverse stock splits in unison, which is...
A look at Plus’ software-first approach to autonomous trucking. After years of investment and excitement, the dawn of self-driving cars and trucks is now here. The question now is which business model among autonomous driving technology companies will win out? This week, we speak with David Liu, CEO of autonomous trucking company Plus. Plus announced...
At the SPAC of Dawn One thing that SPAC investors can typically count on while their money is invested in a SPAC’s trust is that it is going to grow one way or the other between now and their next redemption opportunity, but the devil can occasionally be in the details. In 2024, it became...
Thunderstone has filed for a $50 million SPAC to put a new first-time Asia-based team in action on a generalist hunt. The new SPAC is offering investors a right to a 1/8 share in each unit with 18 months to initially complete a business combination. It is the 8th fresh S-1 filed with underwriter D....
At the SPAC of Dawn In a trading session that may find itself built around the release of Fed minutes at 2 pm ET this afternoon, a pair of SPAC targets have added their own fresh information to the mix. Enterprise AI firm Fusemachines, which has a pending combination with CSLM (OTC:CSLMF), put out a...