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Table 1: SPACs looking at betting and gaming, esports and related areas
SPAC |
Targeting |
Principals |
Money |
|
|
|
raised |
Date
Tekkorp Digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and / or gaming
Marquee Raine Acquisition Corp.
Tailwind Two Acquisition Corp.
IG Acquisition
Interactive entertainment and games, real money gaming, sports
Leisure, gaming and hospitality
Gaming, esports and wagering
Matt Davey, CEO Robin Chhabra, president Eric Matejevich, CFO
Brett Varsov, co-CEO Crane Kenney, co-CEO
Philip Krim, chairman Chris Hollod, co-CEO Matt Eby, co-CEO
Bradley Tusk, chairman Christian Goode, CEO
PTK Acquisition Corp. |
Gaming and esports |
Peter Kuo, CEO |
|
|
Vincent Tsai, managing director |
Ascendent Digital
Source: Market Monitor
Attention economy including esports
Mark Gerhard, CEO Riaan Hodgson, COO
$ 250m |
Sep 20 |
$ 374m |
Dec 20 |
$ 300m |
Mar 21 |
$ 300m |
Sep 20 |
$ 115m |
Sep 20 |
$ 414m |
Mar 21 |
helped bring two gaming SPACs to fruition has been Oakvale Capital, which has had its name attached to the deals that brought RSI, Genius Sports and as this report was going to press Super Group, the parent company behind Betway, which announced it was going to market via a deal with the Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp SPAC.
Sandford Loudon, partner at the financial advisory house, says that after DraftKings blazed the SPAC trail it“ precipitated others seeing that as route to market”.
“ Definitely, there is positive multiplier,” he adds.“ I also think the valuation dynamics are very conducive to doing bigger deals. The benchmarks are very strong plus there were no online gaming and betting companies on the Nasdaq – and everyone loves a comparator.”
FUTURE-CASTING
But more than just being opportunistic, there is one specific element of the structure of SPACs that is particularly important and perhaps goes some way to explaining the fit with betting and gaming right now.“ The structure of the SPAC allows you to talk about the growth prospects and what the future would look like,” says Davey.
“ US investors in growth companies aren’ t that interested in past trading,” he says.“ And so the SPAC structure lends itself to gaming and future growth potential. Particularly when states are opening up to gaming up faster than was initially thought.”
This is against a backdrop of huge liquidity in the US right now for growth opportunities. David Shapton, partner and head of the M & A advisory business at Akur Capital in London, makes the point that in the US investors generally“ aren’ t so scared by potential” and the“ bubble enthusiasm” is more in evidence.
Moreover, US investors are also more comfortable with investing in an initial land-grab rather than immediate profits.“ People have done so well out of the likes of Facebook and Uber, where you worry about profits less than about getting a chunky market share,” he
May 2021