SPAC

A SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) is a “blank-check” shell company that raises capital through an IPO in order to merge with and take a private company public. It appears in Kyle’s wiki via the Chamath Palihapitiya profile, where he describes preferring the money-raising process of a SPAC to that of a VC fund — “short bursts of effort from a fundraising perspective, while VC fundraising requires more hand-holding and thus time and focus.”

Context: SPACs became a dominant alternative route to the public markets around 2020–2021, with Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital Hedosophia vehicles (taking Virgin Galactic, Opendoor, and others public) among the highest-profile examples.

Where this appears

• The Unusual Ambitions Of Chamath Palihapitiya — Chamath’s stated preference for the SPAC as a fundraising vehicle over a traditional VC fund.