After a difficult year, 2021 is likely to be a year of travel startup exits and consolidation fueled by IPOs, M&A, and — new on the scene — SPACs. These deals could help drive renewed enthusiasm for investing in and founding companies within the travel.
Some travel sector startups will use special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, to go public, instead of doing traditional IPOs. The trend has the makings of an investor frenzy. Here's our cheat sheet, covered in six questions and answers.
Airbus-backed Blade thinks Asia is where the action is, with plans to expand there after this latest blank-check deal. Keep an eye on similar so-called SPAC deals in travel in the new year.
Two blank-check outfits that will try to buy something in travel later debuted on the stock market this week. No Airbnb-style IPO pops, however, because no one knows what the acquirers might score in the travel sector.
This is now the third "blank check" company in three months to say it will buy and invest in travel companies. The sudden spike in such financial innovation underscores investor faith that the travel sector offers many bargains and promising opportunities right now.
Heads up, struggling booking platforms. A proposed IPO hopes to raise $300 million, and the company's founders may come looking for you. The list of pandemic opportunists grows.
Message delivered: If Airbnb is concerned about the market's rollercoaster ride and the timing of its going public, then Bill Ackman's Pershing — and other special purpose acquisition companies — could take a little of the anxiety out of the process.