A “blank check” company led by the head of a New Haven-based investment firm founded by a hotel heir said it has raised $240 million in an upsized initial public offering.
Thimble Point Acquisition Corp. is a new SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, that plans to focus on high-growth software and technology-enabled companies.
The company is helmed by Elon S. Boms, a New Havener who is managing director of Pritzker Vlock Family Office, which was founded by billionaire philanthropist and Hyatt hotel heir Karen Pritzker.
Boms and Pritzker are also co-founders of LaunchCapital, a New Haven-based seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology, consumer, medical device and biotech companies.
SPACs, which have become a hot trend on Wall Street in recent months, are shell companies set up to raise capital for the purpose of acquiring another company and taking them public.
SPACs don’t tell investors what company they are targeting for acquisition at the time of the IPO, hence the name “blank check” company.
For example, Guilford-based portable ultrasound maker Butterfly Network announced a deal in November to merge with a SPAC that went public the previous spring. Butterfly is expected to begin trading as a public company when the deal with Longview Acquisition Corp. closes in March.
Co-working firm WeWork and DNA-testing company 23andMe are among a list of well-known national startups that are reportedly seeking to go public via a SPAC merger, which can be accomplished more quickly than a conventional IPO.
Thimble Point said it sold 24 million units at $10 each, with a unit consisting of one share of common stock and one-third of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50.
It began trading on the Nasdaq Tuesday under the symbol THMAU.
Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com
