Astra, and
AST SpaceMobile — have recently announced plans to go public through Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), a method of financing that has become very popular in recent months.
Via Satellite spoke to a number of space investors and analysts to gauge the benefits for startup companies that take this route to scale. While most industry watchers see SPACs as an opportunity, several noted the high expectations for executing bold growth projections to justify valuations — all while under the scrutiny of being a publicly traded company.
In the SPAC process, a shell company is formed and goes public. Then, the shell company looks for a company to combine with. The SPAC’s investors must approve the combination for the merger to go forward. “A SPAC is in essence a pool of capital looking for an investment target, and if it doesn’t find one in time, the sponsor has to return purchasers’ money,” said Owen Kurtin of