SEATTLE — World View, a company developing a stratospheric balloon platform to replace spacecraft for research and tourism, announced on January 13 that it will go public through a merger of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).
World View said it would merge with New York Stock Exchange SPAC Leo Holdings Corp. II, valuing the company at $350 million. The companies said they expect the deal to close in the second quarter of this year. Bloomberg first reported the impending deal on January 12th.
Worldview will receive gross proceeds of up to $121 million from SPAC, assuming no shareholder redemptions. However, many SPAC deals have high redemption rates, with SPAC shareholders demanding refunds rather than joining the combined company, reducing revenue.
The companies said in a statement that additional financing totaling up to $75 million could be made, but the statement did not provide details about the proposed financing. It is not uncommon for SPAC deals to be accompanied by private investment rounds.
World View says it will use the funds from the SPAC contract to expand its business to develop stratospheric platforms that can complement or compete with satellites. The company has made over 120 stratospheric flights in collaboration with various companies and government agencies.
World View President and CEO Ryan Hartman said in a statement: “This merger with Leo allows us to expand our proven expertise and strong base of strategic partnerships to meet the growing market demand for data and analytics from the stratosphere.”
World View was founded ten years ago to offer stratospheric sightseeing flights and aims to emulate the view from space. The company later pivoted to an unmanned spherical platform called “Stratolite” that could carry communications, imaging or research payloads for applications traditionally based on satellites or aircraft.
October 2021, World View has announced that it will return to tourism., develops balloon systems and pressurized cabins that can take up to 10 people to altitudes of around 30 kilometers and allow flights of 6 to 12 hours. The company says 1,200 people have booked seats on these flights, costing him $50,000 for the tickets, but has not disclosed how much revenue he makes from those bookings.
World View provided little financial information as part of the SPAC announcement. Unlike some similar deals involving space or space-adjacent companies, there was no conference call to discuss the merger, nor did it release any financial details or forecasts for investors.
In October 2021, when the company announced its tourism plans, Hartmann said the company was fully funded for the early stages of developing the tourism system, but did not disclose expected costs. The last funding announced by World View before the transaction was $26.5 million in 2018 Series C round.
The SPAC deal comes days after Pima County, Arizona, supervisors approved a new lease for its headquarters with the company. The county claimed that as part of the company’s economic incentive package he built the $14 million facility, a lawsuit filed by a third party ruled the state court against the “gift clause” clause of the state constitution. determined to be in violation.
According to local media, World View stopped paying rent on the property while awaiting a new lease and was $400,000 behind in lease payments, but agreed to pay it back under the new lease agreement. , the company agreed to hire at least 90 full-time employees this year, with a long-term target of 125. Under the original lease agreement, he would eventually have to employ 400 people.
