Quantum Computing Firm Rigetti to Go Public in $1.5 Billion Deal with Zillow Co-Founder's SPAC

Harri Weber

Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.

Quantum Computing Firm Rigetti to Go Public in $1.5 Billion Deal with Zillow Co-Founder's SPAC

A shell company co-created by former Zillow CEO and dot.LA co-founder Spencer Rascoff revealed today that it's merging with quantum computing company Rigetti in a $1.5 billion deal.

Based in Oakland, Rigetti is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "RGTI" once the merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is complete. The announcement follows the public debut of another quantum computing firm, IonQ, which recently started trading on the same exchange via a similar merger.


Bloomberg recently reported that Rascoff's blank-check company — Supernova Partners Acquisition Company II — was in talks to merge with restaurant data startup Buyers Edge Platform. At the time, the report noted the deal was not final and "the talks could fall apart."

Instead, the deal with Rigetti is expected to leave the quantum computing firm with $458 million to "accelerate development of multiple generations of quantum processors and grow its commercial business," according to a joint press release.

Rascoff's first SPAC took real estate tech company Offerpad, a Zillow competitor, public in a $3 billion deal. Today the company was trading under the ticker symbol "OPAD" below $8 per share with a market cap of about $1.70 billion. That's a noteworthy drop from Offerpad's recent peak share price of $13.63.

In an op-ed on SPACs published in October 2020, Rascoff called them "today's best option for an IPO." One year later, excitement around the trend seems to be dying down.

A prolific investor, Rascoff appears to have a finger in every pie. In addition to dot.LA and Zillow, Rascoff co-founded the $1.5 billion real estate startup Pacaso, co-founded HotWire.com and launched L.A. venture fund 75 & Sunny.

He also sits on the board of the controversial data-mining startup Palantir. Previously, Rascoff was a board member of Zillow, TripAdvisor, Zulily and Julep. Crunchbase has tracked 57 personal investments made by Rascoff since 2012.

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Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

​Ian Cinnamon
Ian Cinnamon

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This Week in ‘Raises’: Measurabl Snags $93M, Selva Ventures Grabs $34M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

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McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
InLA

In 2022, female founders saw a 28% decline in overall U.S. funding, while Black-led startups saw a 38% decline in total capital received. In an effort to increase funding for minority-led startups, global venture firm McKinsey & Company is launching InLA, an accelerator program for underrepresented founders.

“This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

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