Is the investing world ready for yet another next-generation fintech going public? Acorns, an investing app that offers a suite of investment, banking, and financial education services for low monthly fees, revealed it's going public by combining with an existing company, Pioneer Merger Corp. (PACX). The company said this places the equity value of its business at roughly $2.2 billion.
Pioneer Merger is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which is an entity created and listed with the sole purpose of bringing an existing business to the stock market quickly.
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After Acorns fuses together with Pioneer Merger, the new entity will operate as Acorns Holdings. Its stock should trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol OAKS. Current Acorns CEO Noah Kerner will also be at the helm of the new company.
Acorns said that Kerner and Pioneer Merger's sponsor aim to pass along 10% of their respective positions in the new company to eligible customers through a share-ownership program. It didn't provide details of this initiative.
In its press release trumpeting the move, Acorns quoted Kerner as saying that, "Going public will help elevate our story, introduce many more people to the power of compounding and financial wellness, and bring financial literacy to the mainstream."
Acorns said that both its and Pioneer Merger's board of directors have unanimously approved their business combination. It remains subject to approval by the latter company's shareholders. Acorns said the deal should close in the second half of this year.
While the publicly traded, cutting-edge fintech space is getting quite crowded, Acorns has a novel business profile and operates a popular app. This should attract plenty of attention from investors looking to profit on the future of the financial services industry.