Fifth Wall Joins the SPAC Boom
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
The largest property technology or "proptech" venture firm Fifth Wall is joining the SPAC boom.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Comission this week, the firm said its creating a special acquisition company (SPAC) and intends to raise up to $287 million by selling 28.75 million shares at $10 a piece to seek out opportunities in real estate tech.
A SPAC is a company created solely to raise capital and merge with a private company. These so-called blank-check vehicles have become enormously popular with more SPACs completing IPOs last year alone than in the previous 10 years combined.
The filing discloses that Fifth Wall manages $1.3 billion and has invested in more than 40 companies, including six that have gone on to become "unicorns." Fifth Wall ranks as one of the largest VC firms in Los Angeles and is the largest proptech firm in the world.
The company announced the close of its second real estate technology fund in 2019, with $503 million in dry powder. Last year, it became a Certified B Corporation or "B Corp," which means it is legally required to consider the impact of its decisions on workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment.
A spokesman for Fifth Wall declined to comment on the offering.
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Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
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