Know Who Drives Return

HotelPlanner and Reservations.com are going public in a three-way merger with Astrea Acquisition Corp (ASAX) in a $567M EV deal that was announced in August 2021. Listen in as David Drapkin talks to HotelPlanner CEO Tim Hentschel regarding travel, COVID, what sets them apart from the competition, and why the deal may be attractive to investors.

See the companion report here: HotelPlanner / Reservations.com / ASAX SPAC Deal Overview

Topics On the Podcast  

• Tim Hentschel Background and founding of HotelPlanner 
• Differentiation in the marketplace, gig travel agents 
• Closed User Group discount rates is a major differentiator 
• HP’s business remained resilient during COVID 
• Leisure travel vs. professional travel breakdown 
• Affiliate partners and white labeling  
• Growth prospects and financial forecasts 
• Cash use of proceeds and potential redemptions 
• Future of travel as we navigate ever changing COVID environment 
• Parting words 

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Steve Van Till founded Brivo back in 1999. The cloud-based access control company serves all type of real estate from single-family homes up to commercial buildings. Steve talks to us about Brivo and why in a post-covid world access control is more important than ever - particularly in an increased environment of hybrid work. 

Having been almost entirely self-funded for its entire history, Brivo is going public via SPAC to expand sales and accelerate growth. Is it worth taking a bet on the most mature cloud-based access control company out there?

Topics Discussed

• Steve's history and founding of Brivo
• Real estate areas of coverage and enterprise customer base
• Mix of software vs. hardware in Brivo's business
• Breakdown of growth expectations
• PropTech secular trends as a positive tailwind for the company
• Fundraising, SPACs, and why they picked the crown team
• Competitive landscape (enterprise, commercial, and multifamily)
• Brivo's leadership team 

Taking a minor break from SPACs on our latest podcast we spoke to Greenbox POS (GBOX), a fintech that utilizes block chain technology to create custom payment solutions co-founded by Ben Errez. The company up-listed to Nasdaq earlier this year, and its newly created stablecoin, Coyni, will be a separately publicly traded entity led by Paul Levine.

Key Highlights:

• Blockchain technology key for payments, continuing digitization of all payments
• Its Gen3 has led to fully custodial + transactional stablecoin, backed by USD
  • Stablecoin, Coyni,  spun-off to maximize shareholder value in trading on a standalone valuation
  • Will begin with a P2P payments app
• GBOX stock price has lagged, company is actively buying back shares
• Recently raised $100M in financing
• Volatility in crypto assets does not negatively affect Greenbox's business
• Team believes increased, albeit the correct types, of regulation as a boon

Investment firm Live Oak Merchant Partners is one of the leading "serial" SPAC sponsors, with views of maintaining a long term presence in the asset class. Led by Rick Hendrix and Gary Wunderlich, Live Oak brings both extensive capital markets and advisory experience with an investment track record. 

Live Oak has successfully completed 2 De-SPAC transactions:

• Live Oak I, $200M IPO. Merged with Danimer Scientific (DNMR) in Dec-2020
• Live Oak II, $253M IPO. Merged with Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS) in Oct-2021

With two more SPACs priced and looking for a target:

• Live Oak Mobility (LOKM), March 2021 IPO for $253M, seeking a target within the mobility and motion sectors 
• Live Oak Crestview Climate (LOCC), in partnership with middle market PE firm Crestview, September 2021 $200M IPO, seeking a target in the climate / sustainability sectors

Rick and Gary are understandably quite bullish on the future of SPACs and the value that they can represent to both potential companies to take public, but also investors. They joined the podcast to discuss the current and future state of the market, what the public has gotten wrong, and what the industry needs to see to sustain and enhance the asset class. 

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
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BM Technologies (BMTX) is a digital, mobile-first FinTech that was born out of BankMobile and boasts ~2M accounts. BankMobile was originally founded by Luvleen Sidhu and developed at parent Customers Bank (CUBI), before ultimately separating and going public via SPAC Megalith Financial Acquisition in January 2021. BMTX recently announced a strategic merger with First Sound Bank and now has plans to become a FinTech bank.

Luvleen is part of a family of lifelong bankers. Father Jay is chairman of Customers Bancorp and brother Sam is the CEO of Customers Bank (we recently spoke to him on our podcast). Luvleen sat down with the Know Who Drives Return podcast to discuss BMTX's future as a FinTech bank, digital banking, and rationale for acquiring a bank charter.

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
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SeatGeek is a vertically integrated, tech-focused ticketing company that is going public via RedBall Acquisition Corp (RBAC). Ticketing is a highly competitive industry, and many might be more familiar with brands such as Ticketmaster (owned by Live Nation LYV), StubHub (owned by PayPal PYPL), or Vivid Seats (VIVID, itself a de-SPAC).

CEO Jack Groetzinger joins the podcast to discuss SeatGeek's potential to grab market share in the ticketing landscape by focusing on primary (enterprise) clients, improving its tech stock and ramping up brand awareness.

Key Takeaways

• SeatGeek touts its technology and software stack as superior to peers
• Full, vertically integrated platform as a differentiator vs. singular primary or secondary reseller, i.e. StubHub (PYPL), VIVID
• Focusing on signing so-called "enterprise" clients, (i.e. Dallas Cowboys or The Barclays Center). Higher upfront costs that pay back in 1-2 years and help produce the flywheel and greater customer acquisition vs. search engine marketing
• Efforts and cash to invest in greater branding and marketing. SeatGeek has relatively lower brand recognition
• SPAC RedBall Acquisition includes veteran investor Gerry Cardinale (RedBird), CEO Alec Scheiner, and Billy Beane (Moneyball fame) 

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Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS) is the semiconductor leader in gallium nitride ("GaN") semiconductors that is aiming to replace legacy silicon chips for power applications. GaN is touted as a more sustainable, efficient, and reliable technology vs. silicon.

Veteran semi executive and Navitas Founder & CEO Gene Sheridan joins the Know Who Drives Return Podcast to discuss the future of GaN and future prospects for Navitas (NVTS), who recently went public via SPAC (Live Oak II). NVTS has been an early De-SPAC darling with the stock performing quite well in the $19s as of this writing.

GaN is already in many of your phone and tablet chargers, and is targeting several different industry verticals with its technology. Will GaN be successful in replacing silicon for power applications?

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
For ongoing tracking, analytics, and data on SPACs checkout Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Data and Analytics service.

Chad Rigetti is the CEO and founder of Rigetti Computing, a full-stack quantum computing company who has agreed to a SPAC merger with Supernova Partners Acquisition Co II (SNII). Quantum computing leaders are very bullish on the technology and are projecting that in 5-10 years every company will have quantum computers that can solve problems today's computers cannot. 

Is it a winner take all? Fellow de-SPAC darling and quantum computing competitor IONQ focuses on trapped ions vs. superconducting. Chad shares his views on both the competitive dynamic and if there is space for multiple winners, though contends that superconducting technology is best set up for success longterm. 

Topics Discussed

• Chad Rigetti's career history
• Beginner's guide to quantum computing
• Rigetti's business model
• Superconducting vs. trapped ions (IONQ)
• Pitch for buying a share of Rigetti today
• Is it ready for widespread commercial adoption?
• Customers, governments, and target
• The SPAC deal and why Supernova
• Use of proceeds, growth plan, and valuation
• Managing life as a public company

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
For ongoing tracking, analytics, and data on SPACs checkout Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Data and Analytics service.

Earth Data company Planet Labs is going public thru dMY Technology IV (DMYQ) via a SPAC transaction. Founder and CEO Will Marshall, CFO Ashley Johnson, and dMY CEO Niccolo de Masi join us on the podcast to discuss Planet's prospects and the SPAC transaction. 

Planet touts itself as the only company in the world that has the ability to do full daily earth scans, sometimes even twice a day. One can think of Planet as the "Bloomberg Terminal" for Earth data - allowing the consumer to consume their satellite imagery via their own computers. Planet serves numerous industry verticals and has aims for much more, and operates on a data subscription business model. 

Key Takeaways:

• Not a "satellite company" --> Planet owns the raw satellite data that enables Planet and customers to create value-add data/analytics/services on top
• De-risked technology (i.e. launched 200 satellites) and product-market fit (i.e. $100m revenue / +700 customers)
• Subscription data business w/ strong renewal rates and account growth
• Google partnership -- Google outsources to them, sold their satellites to Planet, and now sells a bundle of Planet + Google Cloud
• Capital raised will enable sales and marketing -- team believes this is the key limiter on growth at this point
• Product led by Kevin Weil --> previously at Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Strong, serial sponsor in dMY Technology

Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Service
For ongoing tracking, analytics, and data on SPACs checkout Boardroom Alpha's SPAC Data and Analytics service.

Sam Sidhu is the new President and CEO of tech-focused regional bank Customers Bank. He joins the podcast to discuss the bank's digital-first mindset and crypto.

Discussion Topics

• Sam Sidhu - Career Background
• Customers Bank Overview, "hi-touch hi-tech"
• CUBI stock on the rise, what is the reason?
• PPP leader and what it means for future
• Crypto strategy and real-time payments
• Technology partner TassatPay
• What are competitors doing
• Crypto currency and retail banking
• ESG strategy for Customers Bank
• Reflections as a new CEO, and management succession
• What to look out for at Customers Bank

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