Build Acquisition Corp., a blank check company created by Austin-based BuildGroup LLC, is planning to raise $200 million to acquire a tech company and take it public. The company announced March 16 its IPO offers 20 million units at $10 each. It started trading March 17 under the ticker "BGSX.U" on the New York Stock Exchange. The offering is set to close March 19.
With the funds, the organization is planning to scoop up a SaaS, fintech or other software business. It hasn't given any indication of what companies it may eventually target, which is common for special purpose acquisition companies in this phase of the process.
But BuildGroup's prior investments might provide some hints at the types of companies it's interested in. Those include Austin data science platform Anaconda, as well as Flowspace, a Los Angeles-based on-demand warehousing software company that earlier this week landed a $31 million funding round led by BuildGroup.
BuildGroup was founded by Rackspace veterans Lanham Napier, Jim Curry and Klee Kleber. Meanwhile, Build Acquisition Corp is led by Napier, along with Zeynep Young, former CEO of Austin-based government-tech company Calytera (acquired in 2020) and former venture partner at Austin's Next Coast Ventures, and Tanner Cerand, vice president of investment research at BuildGroup since October 2018 and former director of Vista Equity Partners.
SPACs continue to proliferate on Wall Street. As of March 17, 268 SPAC IPOs had raised more than $87.5 billion this year — eclipsing the $83.3 billion raised in 248 SPAC IPOs in all of 2020, according to SPACInsider.
For more on the SPAC process, and how some companies and investors are using it as an alternative to the traditional IPO, go here.
Will Anderson contributed additional reporting.
