DRS/A 1 filename1.htm tm2114962-4_drsa - block - 21.6094937s
As submitted confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 10, 2021.
This Amendment No. 2 to draft registration statement has not been publicly filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and all information herein remains strictly confidential.
Registration No. 333-      ​
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
ExcelFin Acquisition Corp.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
6770
(Primary Standard Industrial
Classification Code Number)
[]
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)
473 Jackson St., Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94111
[]
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
Logan Allin
Chief Executive Officer
473 Jackson St., Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94111
[]
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
William B. Nelson
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Bank of America Tower
800 Capitol Street, Suite 2200
Houston, Texas 77002
(713) 354-4900
Elliott M. Smith
White & Case LLP
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
(212) 819-8200
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box: ☐
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of  “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer
Accelerated filer
Non-accelerated filer
Smaller reporting company
Emerging growth company
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
Title of Each Class of
Security Being Registered
Amount Being
Registered
Proposed Maximum
Offering Price per
Security(1)
Proposed Maximum
Aggregate Offering
Price(1)
Amount of
Registration Fee
Units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-third of one redeemable warrant(2)
23,000,000 Units
$ 10.00 $ 230,000,000 $ 25,093
Class A common stock included as part of the units(3)(4)
23,000,000 Shares
(5)
Redeemable warrants included as part of the units(3)(4)
7,666,667 Warrants
(5)
Class A common stock underlying redeemable warrants(3)(4)
7,666,667 Shares
$ 11.50 $ 88,166,671 $ 9,619
Total
$ 318,166,671 $ 34,712
(1)
Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(a) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act.
(2)
Includes 3,000,000 units, consisting of 3,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and 1,000,000 redeemable warrants, which may be issued upon exercise of a
45-day option granted to the underwriters to cover over-allotments, if any.
(3)
Pursuant to Rule 416 under the Securities Act, there are also being registered an indeterminable number of additional securities as may be issued to prevent dilution resulting from stock splits, stock dividends or similar transactions.
(4)
Maximum number of shares of Class A common stock and redeemable warrants, as applicable, included in the units described above, including those that may be issued upon exercise of a 45-day option granted to the underwriters described above.
(5)
No fee pursuant to Rule 457(g).
The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
$200,000,000
ExcelFin Acquisition Corp.
20,000,000 Units
ExcelFin Acquisition Corp. is a newly incorporated blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us.
This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of  $10.00 and consists of one share of our Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of  $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in this prospectus, and only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation, as described in this prospectus. Subject to the terms and conditions described in this prospectus, we may redeem the warrants once they become exercisable. We have also granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of our Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account described below calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of our initial business combination, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock that were sold as part of the units in this offering, which we refer to collectively as our public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, which will automatically be extended an additional six months upon the execution of a letter of intent with respect to an initial business combination (such time period, the “completion window”), we will redeem 100% of the public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described herein.
Our sponsor, ExcelFin SPAC LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (which we refer to as our “sponsor” throughout this prospectus), has committed to purchase an aggregate of 5,666,667 private placement warrants (or 6,266,667 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) at a price of  $1.50 per warrant ($8,500,000 in the aggregate, or $9,400,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. We refer to these warrants throughout this prospectus as the private placement warrants. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Two affiliates of our sponsor (the “Sponsor Affiliates”) will enter into a forward purchase agreement with us in connection with this offering that provides for the purchase by the Sponsor Affiliates of an aggregate of up to 6,500,000 units, each consisting of one shares of Class A common stock and one-third of a warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of our initial business combination. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, the Sponsor Affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval of its investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement. The forward purchase warrants will have the same terms as the private placement warrants, and the forward purchase shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that the forward purchase shares are subject to transfer restrictions and certain registration rights, as described herein.
Our initial stockholders currently hold 5,750,000 shares of our Class B common stock (which we refer to as “founder shares” as further described herein), up to 750,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the

extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. The shares of our Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities (as described herein), are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination (other than the forward purchase units), the ratio at which the shares of our Class B common stock will convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B common stock agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of all shares of our common stock issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering, plus all shares of our Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, excluding any forward purchase units or shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in our initial business combination. On any matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, except as required by law.
Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our units, Class A common stock or warrants. We intend to apply to list our units on the Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “XFINU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on Nasdaq. The shares of Class A common stock and warrants constituting the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus (or, if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless UBS Securities LLC informs us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our filing a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, containing an audited balance sheet of the company reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds of this offering and issuing a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the securities constituting the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “XFIN” and “XFINW,” respectively.
We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 36. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.
Price to
Public
Underwriting
Discounts and
Commissions(1)
Proceeds,
Before
Expenses,
to Us
Per Unit
$ 10.00 $ 0.55 $ 9.45
Total $ 200,000,000 $ 11,000,000 $ 189,000,000
(1)
Includes $0.35 per unit, or $7,000,000 (or up to $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in the aggregate, payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein. Does not include certain fees and expenses payable to the underwriters in connection with this offering. See also “Underwriting” for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.
Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $202.0 million or $232.3 million if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.10 per unit), will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account at                 with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within the completion window, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.
The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. Delivery of the units will be made on or about           , 2021.
Neither the SEC nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Sole Book-Runner
UBS Investment Bank
Co-Managers
Exos Securities LLCKeyBanc Capital Markets
The date of this prospectus is                 , 2021.

 
We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the units offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY
36
75
79
80
82
90
121
131
137
158
166
167
F-1
Trademarks
This prospectus contains references to trademarks and service marks belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that the applicable licensor will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.
 
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SUMMARY
This summary only highlights the more detailed information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. As this is a summary, it does not contain all of the information that you should consider in making an investment decision. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the information under “Risk Factors” and our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before investing.
General
ExcelFin Acquisition Corp. is a newly incorporated blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Neither we, nor anyone on our behalf, has selected any business combination target or initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us.
We intend to focus our search on a U.S. domiciled Financial Technology (“FinTech”) company and will leverage our deep domain expertise, investing track record, and extensive networks in order to pursue a business combination with a high-quality growth-oriented company in the FinTech business-to-business (“B2B”) software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) sector. Our thesis-driven approach, disciplined investment criteria, and proprietary due diligence methodology, refined through our affiliate’s venture and late-stage growth investment platforms, will enable us to identify and evaluate prospective target partner businesses, and we expect to leverage our deep investment structuring and transaction experience to effectively negotiate and complete a business combination. Post-business combination, we plan to utilize our operating playbook to accelerate growth, improve operating metrics, and drive meaningful shareholder value.
Our Company
Our company is led by Logan Allin, our Chief Executive Officer, and Jennifer Hill, our Chairman of the Board. We are affiliated with Fin Venture Capital (“Fin VC”) and Grand Fortune Capital, LLC (“GFC”) (each a “Sponsor Affiliate”). Fin VC, founded by Mr. Allin in 2018, is a leading FinTech-focused venture and growth equity firm with a portfolio of 22 FinTech companies including unicorns such as SoFi, Greenlight, Unqork, DailyPay, Tradeshift, Figure and Pipe:

SoFi (NYSE: IPOE) is one of the leading consumer US FinTechs with full stack product offerings across lending, banking, wealth management, digital assets, and insurance. SoFi acquired Galileo in 2020, providing a vertically integrated platform to support embedded banking and payments. Other investors include QIA, Silver Lake, Softbank, DCM, ThirdPoint, IVP, GIC, and Baseline.

Greenlight is the leading FinTech platform in family finance, providing a platform for parents and their kids for checking, savings, debit, and investments. The platform is offered B2C and B2B2C through distribution partnerships with leading retail banks such as JPMorgan Chase. Other investors include Canapi Ventures, TTV, BOND, DST, Goodwater, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Amazon, Truist, NEA, Social Capital, Ally, and Synchrony.

Unqork is a platform solving for Development Operations (“DevOps”) and movement to the cloud for the financial services and insurance industries. Unqork is a no-code enterprise application platform that helps large companies build, deploy, and manage complex applications without writing a single line of code—a critical solution for legacy corporates, particularly in financial services and insurance. The company enables enterprises to accelerate DevOps, cloud migration, proprietary application and integration framework development faster, with higher quality, and lower upfront/ongoing costs than conventional approaches. Other investors include Blackrock, Blackstone, CapitalG, Advent, and HP.

DailyPay is modernizing payroll through a platform bridging legacy payroll, time management, and HR systems to enable employers to deliver financial services to their employees, with short term lending being the starting point to a more comprehensive product roadmap. DailyPay is generating a double bottom line impact by combating the punitive pay-day lending business and offering hourly workers,
 
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freelancers, and independent workers an alternative to taking advances on future earnings—reducing financial stress, turnover and costs to both employees/employers. Other investors include Proof VC, RPM Ventures, First Ascent, and Inspiration.

Tradeshift is the world’s largest, open, digital commerce platform, providing SaaS supply chain solutions and enabling enterprises to connect, transact and collaborate with all of their business partners—including payments, lending, and marketplace activities. Other investors include Goldman Sachs, PSP, GP Bullhound, HSBC, CreditEase, AmEx Ventures, PayPal Ventures, DCVC, and Wipro.

Figure has built a financial services business that sits on top of a blockchain platform, Provenance, that enables digital lending, asset management, and an ecosystem of services to lenders, banks, credit investors, and secondary players. Figure is one of the first enterprise blockchain innovators at scale, leveraging the blockchain technology and tokenization to facilitate ABS, fund admin, private company cap table admin/secondary liquidity, and other use cases. Other investors include Morgan Creek, DCM, Ribbit Capital, Mithril, Credit Suisse, CreditEase, Noah Holdings and Baseline.

Pipe is transforming the fundamental economics of the global SaaS market. The company provides instant cash advances to recurring revenue companies, enabling them to unlock their deferred cash flows through non-dilutive funding. Pipe’s advanced application programming interface (“API”) financing platform automates the entire financing process for SaaS companies and delivers account level visibility and instant liquidity without the need to take on any debt or dilution. Other investors include Craft, Anthemis, Fika, Uncorrelated, and KSD Capital.
Fin VC’s employees have accumulated decades of investing, company building, and deal execution experience among them.
We believe we possess the following competitive strengths that differentiate us as we seek to complete a business combination:

Executive Management, and broader team of operating and investment professionals with deep industry expertise and credibility;

Disciplined investment parameters and operating playbook focused on B2B FinTech SaaS that differentiates ExcelFin from generalist special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) and the rest of the market;

Large deal sourcing network and deep relationships with founders and investors;

Decades of M&A, origination and execution experience; and

Sponsor and executive management team with current and prior SPAC experience.
Executive Management
In addition to Mr. Allin and Ms. Hill, our management team includes Ren Riley, an Investment Partner at Fin VC, who will serve as our COO, Joe Ragan, CFO for the Paper Excellence group, who will serve as our CFO and Brian Sun, Managing Director at GFC, who will serve as our Executive Vice President. Messrs. Allin, Riley, Ragan and Sun will serve together as our executive leadership group (collectively, our “Executive Management”). Our Executive Management, supported by a much broader team made up of 6 professionals from our Sponsor Affiliates, are private investment, investment banking, and operations professionals with significant transaction and investing knowledge and experience. Messrs. Allin, Riley, and Ragan are each successful entrepreneurs and executives and have, individually, through their firms and corporations, helped a large number of companies create value for their shareholders and owners.
Jennifer Hill has served as our Chairman of the Board since April 2021. Ms. Hill is an experienced board member across the financial services industry, currently serving as a Board Member at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, Strategic Advisor at Talos Trading, Non-Executive Director at Santander Asset Management, Board Member at Melqart Asset Management and Board Member at La Crosse Milling Company. Ms. Hill is the Founder and CEO of Murphy Hill Consulting, where she works with start ups in the fin tech space on organization and capital raising. Prior to her current positions, Ms. Hill served as CFO of Merrill Lynch & Co. from 2012 to 2014. Ms. Hill has also worked as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs
 
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from 1996 to 2006 and Vice President in the Financial Institutions Group at Citi from 1993 to 1996. Ms. Hill received her B.A. from Hamilton College and M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Logan Allin has served as our CEO and director since March 2021. Mr. Allin is Founder and Managing General Partner at Fin VC where he is responsible for management of the firm, sourcing/consummating investments, maintaining board responsibilities, and operating value at portfolio companies. Prior to founding Fin VC in 2018, Mr. Allin was Vice President of SoFi Ventures, from 2017 to 2018, where he was tasked with investing in and working hands-on with FinTech companies, as well as running SoFi’s accelerator and corporate development efforts. Mr. Allin was formerly a Venture Partner at Light Street Capital, from 2016 to 2017, where he was responsible for IR as well as sourcing, diligence, and finalizing late-stage private TMT investments. Additionally, Mr. Allin was a Partner at Formation Group, from 2016 to 2017, focused on early-expansion stage cross-border TMT investments in the US and Asia. Mr. Allin served as VP of Business Development, CFO and CIO of ONEHOPE Wine from 2013 to 2016. Mr. Allin has spent the vast majority of his career in FinTech, most recently as Head of Management Strategy, overseeing the enterprise FinTech strategy and execution, while serving as a member of the Operating Committee at Atlantic Trust, the Private Wealth Management arm of Invesco (and now CIBC) from 2010 to 2012. Previously, Mr. Allin was a Senior Vice President in City National Bank’s wealth management division (now part of RBC) where he led the technology strategy, open product architecture platform, and other strategic initiatives from 2009 to 2010. Mr. Allin spent much of his career in management consulting, in leadership positions at Capgemini, EMC, and PwC, focused exclusively on the intersection of Financial Services and technology. Mr. Allin earned B.A. in Public Policy and Political Science from Duke University and a M.S. in Management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow.
Ren Riley has served as our COO since March 2021. Mr. Riley is an Investment Partner at Fin VC where he is focused on sourcing and executing primary and co-investment opportunities and adding value to our portfolio companies. He brings 25 years of experience in the financial services sector and has been an active participant and investor in the venture capital industry for over 20 years. In 2019, Mr. Riley co-founded Enclave Liquidity Partners, a provider of liquidity solutions to founders, executives, and key shareholders of late-stage private growth companies. Prior to Enclave, Mr. Riley was a Partner at Robertson Stephens, from 2015 to 2019, an RIA providing wealth management services for high-net-worth individuals and family offices. Positions during his tenure at the firm also included CEO and Head of Alternatives. Prior to Robertson Stephens, Mr. Riley spent 16 years with Oak Investment Partners, from 1999 to 2015, where he became a General Partner in 2006. His primary focus was on emerging growth, multi-stage investments in the Internet, mobile, FinTech and enterprise software and services sectors, around the globe. Mr. Riley is still a Venture Partner at Oak and has served on the Boards of many Oak companies. Mr. Riley also serves on the Board for Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq—​TVACU). He began his career working in the corporate finance division of the original Robertson Stephens, a technology-focused investment bank based in San Francisco, where he was a Senior Associate. Mr. Riley holds a B.A. in Government from Dartmouth College.
Joe Ragan has served as our CFO since March 2021. Mr. Ragan is currently serving as the Chief Financial Officer for the Paper Excellence group. Mr. Ragan also serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors for Sports Ventures Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq—AKICU). Previously, from 2018 to 2019, Mr. Ragan served as Chief Financial Officer for Resideo/Honeywell Homes, a leading global manufacturer of thermostats and security panels (NYSE—REZI). From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Ragan also served as Chief Financial Officer for Ferroglobe PLC (Nasdaq—GSM), the leading global manufacturer of metal alloys and other metallic products that was created through a merger of FerroAtlántica and Globe Specialty Metals. From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Ragan previously served as CFO at Boart Longyear (ASX—​BLY), a publicly traded mining and manufacturing company, and UNICOM Government, Inc., previously known as GTSI, a publicly traded government contractor (Nasdaq—GTSI). Mr. Ragan holds an M.S. in Accounting from George Mason University and a B.S. in Accounting from The University of the State of New York. Mr. Ragan began his finance career with Deloitte, and was a licensed CPA in the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1990 to 2015. Mr. Ragan also serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors for the nonprofit USA Judo.
Brian Sun has served as our Executive VP since March 2021. Mr. Sun is currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Global Strategy and M&A for Paper Excellence and as the Managing Director for GFC,
 
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a global investment firm and family office for Jackson Widjaja, where he manages GFC’s investment efforts in North America. Prior to GFC, Mr. Sun was in corporate development executive roles with SGS North America, AES Corp and Fosun Wealth Group sourcing and executing M&A transactions in business services, financial service, FinTech, technology and power sectors. From 2012 to 2017, Mr. Sun was a M&A advisory investment banker at Lazard and at China Merchants Bank US. From 2004 to 2010, he has worked at private equity firm Arcapita, leading aircraft investment group Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management, financial service company Jackson Hewitt and Barclays Capital in various corporate finance and investment roles. Mr. Sun has over 20 years of corporate finance and transactional experience and has worked on over $50 billion sales, acquisitions and investments transactions. Mr. Sun has a M.B.A. from Duke University and a B.A. from Beijing Foreign Studies University. He was a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 2008.
Goh Lin Piao will serve as a director immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Goh is currently serving as Senior Advisor to GFC, a global investment firm and family office for Jackson Widjaja. Mr. Goh has been at the nexus of Application Software, Digital Technologies, Business Transformation and the Internet for the past 30 years. Mr. Goh was in Accenture from 1990 to 2005 in a variety of roles including Managing Partner of Accentures’ Greater China Public Sector. In Accenture he helped large corporations and governments harness application software and digital technologies to speed their business transformation. From 2006 to 2016, Mr. Goh was at the RGE Group and had various leadership roles including Head of Business Transformation and Group Executive Director at RGE’s Specialty Pulp & Viscose business. Mr. Goh graduated from the University of New South Wales, Australia, with a degree in Computer Science and top honors in Mechanical Engineering.
Independent Directors
Gary Meltzer will serve as an independent director immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Meltzer currently serves as an advisor to early-stage companies. Prior to September 30, 2020, he was a partner at PwC where he most recently served as the Managing Partner responsible for PwC’s Bay Area and Northwest Market and served as a global relationship partner to Fortune 500 financial services and technology companies. He also led PwC’s FinTech practice, where he provided services to companies in the payments, digital banking, peer-to-peer lending, InsurTech, PropTech, digital assets and asset and wealth management spaces. Prior to his latest positions at PwC, Mr. Meltzer was PwC’s Financial Services Regulatory Leader from 2008 to 2011 and the Asset and Wealth Management Sector Leader from 2010 to 2016, where he was responsible for advising banks, asset managers, wealth managers, private equity funds, hedge funds, venture capital firms and FinTech companies. Mr. Meltzer has a B.S. in Accounting from Binghamton University and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New York and California. Mr. Meltzer also serves on the Leadership Council for Tipping Point Community and as an Advisory Board Member of Binghamton University School of Management. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Bay Area Council, where he chaired the Committee on Homelessness.
Neil Wolfson will serve as an independent director immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Wolfson is currently serving as an Active Board Member and Venture Investor for a number of FinTech and Financial Services companies, including IOU Financial, SALT Blockchain, Nextivity and Finitive. Prior to his current Board positions, Mr. Wolfson was the President and CIO of SF Capital Group from 2009 to 2018, where he oversaw all debt and equity investing, asset allocation, investment management, tax and estate planning. Mr. Wolfson served as a director and Chair of the Audit Committee of OnDeck Capital from 2014 to 2020. From 2004 to 2008, Mr. Wolfson served as the President and CIO of Wilmington Trust, an asset manager that oversees over $40 billion in assets, and as the President, CEO and Chairman of the Wilmington Funds, a $10 billion mutual fund family. Prior to working at Wilmington Trust, Mr. Wolfson served as National Partner in Charge at KPMG, where he worked from 1996 to 2004, and as an Associate Director at Bear Stearns, where he worked from 1995 to 1996. Mr. Wolfson received his B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from New York University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.
Board Advisors
Alka Gupta will serve as our advisor immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Ms. Gupta is a Venture Partner at Fin Venture Capital, a fund focused on global fintech with focus on B2B Enterprise
 
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SaaS. She is also Co-Founder, President and Board Director at GlobaliD, a venture backed, portable, and interoperable identity platform leveraging the blockchain. As President, she built the team, product, and signed the first digital wallet customers. Prior thereto, from 2010 to 2015, she was at eBay/PayPal as head of strategy for eBay Marketplaces where she led strategy development for fulfillment, expanded payment systems, cross border transactions, omni-channel retail, and key Asian (Japan, India) and select Latin American (Brazil) markets. Previously, from 2006 to 2009 Alka was with Retrevo (Acq. BN), a vertical specific e-commerce business, as VP of Business Development, bringing in the first revenue. At Lycos (Nasdaq: LCOS; Acq.: TEF) from 1998 to 2005, Alka first led as GM of a global suite of products and then as VP Corp Development and Strategy. She earned an MBA from The Wharton School and B.S. (cum laude) from Case Western Reserve University. Alka serves as a Board Director at MoneyGram (Nasdaq: MGI), GlobaliD, Digital Frontiers, and Flaist, Finance and Audit Committee for Menlo Park City School, and is a Limited Partner at Chestnut Ventures. She is an Advisor to Berkeley’s SkyDeck Accelerator and Venture Lab at the Wharton School and a frequent speaker on topics such as digital transformation, fintech, and blockchain, including at University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania. Alka was also an early Charter Member and the Chair of Mentoring Program at TiE and early Advisory Board Member Women 2.0.
Brady Dougan will serve as our advisor immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Dougan is currently serving as the CEO of Exos TFP Holdings LLC. Mr. Dougan has more than 30 years in the financial services industry, including 24 years at Credit Suisse and eight of those years as CEO. From 1983-1991, Mr. Dougan was part of a team that built Bankers Trust into a derivatives leader. From 1991-1995, he held various roles at Credit Suisse, helping to found and create Credit Suisse Financial Products. From 1996-2001 he served as Global Head of Equities and Investment Banking and was responsible for supervising and overseeing all equities, derivatives, and cash sales and trading, capital markets, and equities research businesses. In 2002-2004 he was Co President, Global Institutional Services adding fixed income sales, trading and research (including rates, credit, emerging markets and securitized products) to his suite of responsibilities and successfully managed the business through the crisis. From 2004-2007, Mr. Dougan was CEO of the Global Investment Bank. Mr. Dougan also served as a Director on the Executive Board of Directors of the U.S. broker-dealer from October 1999 until mid- 2004. From June 2004 to mid-2007, Mr. Dougan served as CEO of Investment Banking and acting CEO Credit Suisse Americas when he served as CEO of the U.S. broker-dealer. In 2007, Mr. Dougan was appointed CEO of Credit Suisse Group where he remained until his departure from the firm in June 2015.
Competitive Advantages
We believe ExcelFin’s core competitive advantage lies in its Executive Management team and Affiliated Organizations, Fin VC and GFC. Fin VC was founded in 2018 by leading entrepreneurs and investors who have built, invested in, and successfully scaled growing FinTech companies on a global basis. Fin VC serves as a steward for transformative FinTech companies from seed to realization, driving consistent returns and building a strong reputation and legacy in the financial services and venture capital industries. Since its founding, Fin VC has built a modern asset management platform specialized in greenfield areas of global FinTech. Fin VC is a signatory investment manager to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment and incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG), socially responsible investing, and diversity considerations into its investment process. ExcelFin will employ a tested operating playbook, used by Fin VC, to provide meaningful growth acceleration via its extensive expertise and resources, including: capital formation (equity and credit), product roadmap strategy development, tech stack scale planning, go-to-market and brand/marketing approach, customers / partners business development, and talent sourcing. ExcelFin expects to leverage the following tools and processes, built by Fin VC, as competitive advantages in the market:

Domain Expertise.   Our Executive Management team has significant FinTech and technology sector experience built from decades of investing, operating and advising companies. ExcelFin will be further supported by the investment professionals, operators, advisors and other members of our Affiliated Organizations, each of whom provide significant additional experience and sector expertise. We believe that this collective experience and knowledge will help us to identify sector trends and to target the emerging companies within our focus sector that represent attractive business combination opportunities.
 
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Defined Investment Process.   We intend to leverage Fin VC’s investing experience, capabilities, and proprietary due diligence structure, and couple it with the analytical rigor that Mr. Ragan and GFC bring to their assessment of companies and markets through decades of experience closing complex transactions.

Differentiated Sourcing Approach.   ExcelFin will take a proactive sourcing approach to finding the most optimal target to consummate its business combination with. Our proactive sourcing approach will consist of the following components:

Entrepreneurial Network.   All of our team members have a strong foundation of global entrepreneurial and venture capital investing experience across company lifecycle stages. As such, the primary source of prospective companies will be sourced through regular conversations with entrepreneurs we have worked with, and entrepreneurs of companies that Fin VC and GFC have invested in. Due to Fin VC’s high Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 95% (as of 3Q ‘20) and growing brand equity for being value-added investors, we expect referrals to grow exponentially and be a key advantage for ExcelFin during the target identification phase.

FinTech Ecosystems.   Fin VC has cultivated relationships with the key “FinTech ecosystems” globally that have formed around FinTech companies such as SoFi, Stripe, Affirm, PayPal, Square, Klarna, Adyen, and N26. We believe that companies that have spun out of similar leading players are strong candidates and that we will have differentiated access to due to our existing and long-term relationships with management and key team members through Fin VC.

Upstream/Downstream Investors.   Through Fin VC, ExcelFin has strong relationships with peers in the FinTech community who will refer opportunities our way, including generalist venture capital firms who make FinTech investments, FinTech specialists, leading growth equity and buyout firms, and LP co investors. Fin VC typically holds monthly calls with many of these “upstream” and “downstream” investors to develop a collaborative deal-sharing approach, where this proactive approach makes for a far richer and clearer dialogue with peers. As a result, , we believe that ExcelFin will receive more streamlined referrals from peers post-offering.

Post-Business Combination Value Enhancement.   ExcelFin has an expansive network, built and cultivated by our affiliated organizations, that includes FinTech companies, financial services organizations, insurers/reinsurers, corporates, and channel partners. We plan on being hands-on and “in the trenches” post-business combination with the company’s CROs/sales team on a set of priority targets in providing C-level introductions and then supporting follow-up, back-channeling and the ultimate closing of a commercial agreements.

Product & Channel Strategy.   We will actively support the development and refinement of the go-to-market strategy, inclusive of the product delivery, organizational set-up, pricing model, and contracting process. As former entrepreneurs, our Executive Management team brings extensive product and engineering experience in a hands-on iterative approach.

Capital Formation.   We will advise the team to proactively raise equity/debt with other value-added investors as a further differentiator, saving the company substantial time and cost. Through our Affiliated Organizations, Fin VC and GFC, we will be able to utilize a deep network of financial and strategic investors to run streamlined capital raises processes.

Corporate Development.   We bring a track record and background of managing M&A processes, as investors and historically as asset managers and investment bankers. Collectively, the Executive Management team has overseen and driven 50+ exit processes and has built a network of corporate development officers and specialist investment bankers that can be leveraged during the De-SPAC process.

Commitment to ESG.   We believe ESG is an important driver in differentiating companies and driving long term social and corporate change. ExcelFin values diverse leaders, and embraces founders and executives who are women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community and from other under-represented communities.
Additionally, we believe our ability to complete an initial business combination will be enhanced by our forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates, pursuant to which such affiliates will commit to
 
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purchase up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units, consisting of one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase shares”) and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase warrants”), for $10.00 per unit, or an aggregate amount of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, each Sponsor Affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval, prior to our entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, of its investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement. The forward purchase shares will be identical to the Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will be subject to transfer restrictions and registration rights, as described herein. The forward purchase warrants will have the same terms as the private placement warrants.
Investment Criteria
We have developed the following investment criteria that we will use to screen for and evaluate target businesses. We will use these criteria in evaluating initial business combination opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria. We expect that no individual criterion will entirely determine a decision to pursue a particular opportunity. We intend to seek an initial business combination with a business that we believe exhibits the following characteristics:

B2B FinTech SaaS Focus.   We will seek to acquire a business with a B2B model, including the following FinTech sub-sectors:

Payments

Banking/Lending

Wealth/Asset Management

Capital Markets/Trading

Insurance/InsurTech

Enabling Technologies/Infrastructure

Robust Growth and Margin Profile.   We will seek to acquire a business that has grown consistently year-over-year, has a defensible recurring revenue model and sustainable gross margin profile.

Category Leader and Proven Product-Market Fit.   We will seek to acquire a business that has a sustainable competitive advantage within a target market as a result of differentiated technology, intellectual property, distribution capabilities, and other attributes that provide high barriers to entry.

Appropriate Valuation and Transaction Structure.   We will seek to acquire a business at an attractive valuation with mutual upside potential through the combination with our management team and value add. We believe the benefits of a SPAC structure, versus a traditional IPO, with a strong sponsor fit like ExcelFin will deliver accelerated long-term benefits to all stakeholders.

Global Business Development Opportunities.   We believe that a key driver of value enhancement will be centered around direct customer introductions and broader business development efforts through ExcelFin’s global network. We will support scale through regional and cross-border customer acquisition, channel partnerships, and global expansion, which will in turn drive revenue growth, margin improvement, and ultimately appreciate enterprise value.

Advantage from M&A, Capital Markets, and Operating Expertise as well as Fin VCs Network.   We will seek to acquire a business where the collective capabilities of our management team can be leveraged
 
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to tangibly improve the operations and create value. This may be achieved through constructive engagement with seasoned management teams with augmentation of the board and team to enhance performance. Additionally, we may seek to acquire a business that, in addition to organic growth, has the potential to grow through accretive M&A. We will partner with a company that understands the value of our network and expects to benefit from the experience of our management team and deep history of investing, advising, operating and leading successful companies in the FinTech space.

Public Company Readiness.   We will seek management and shareholders who aspire to have their company become a public entity to improve the long-term prospects for the business and shareholders. The benefits of transitioning from a private to a public entity may include a broader access to debt and equity providers, liquidity for employees/existing shareholders, potential acquisitions and expanded branding in the marketplace. ExcelFin’s direct experience successfully implementing its robust operating playbook in late-stage venture/growth equity and M&A/IPO experience will translate into meaningful results for the company.
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as on other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC.
Members of our board of directors will directly or indirectly own founder shares and private placement warrants following this offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Our sponsor and members of our board of directors acquired founder shares for approximately $0.004 per share and we are offering units at a price of  $10.00 per unit in this offering; as a result, our sponsor and members of our board of directors could make a substantial profit after the initial business combination even if public investors experience substantial losses and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. (See “Risk Factors—The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may significantly dilute the implied value of your public shares in the event we consummate an initial business combination, and our sponsor is likely to make a substantial profit on its investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our common stock to materially decline.” and “—Since our initial shareholders will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.”)
Initial Business Combination
We believe our ability to complete an initial business combination will be enhanced by our forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates, pursuant to which such affiliates will commit to purchase up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units, consisting of one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase shares”) and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase warrants”), for $10.00 per unit, or an aggregate amount of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, each Sponsor Affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval, prior to our entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, of its
 
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investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement. The forward purchase shares will be identical to the Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will be subject to transfer restrictions and registration rights, as described herein. The forward purchase warrants will have the same terms as the private placement warrants.
The rules of Nasdaq require our initial business combination to occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity securities of a target business or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on Nasdaq for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net assets test.
Corporate Information
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for
 
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complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of  (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” will have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter.
Our executive offices are located at 473 Jackson St., Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94111 and our telephone number is [•]. Upon completion of this offering, our corporate website address will be                 . Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
Definitions
Unless otherwise stated in this prospectus or the context otherwise requires, references to:

“Affiliated Joint Acquisition” are to an acquisition opportunity pursued jointly with one or more entities affiliated with FVC or GFC and/or one or more investors in funds managed by FVC;

“common stock” are to our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock;

“completion window” is the period following the completion of this offering at the end of which, if we have not completed our initial business combination, we will redeem 100% of the public shares at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and certain conditions and as further described herein. The completion window ends 18 months from the closing of this offering, unless prior to the end of such time we have entered into a letter of intent with respect to our initial business combination, in which case the completion window will end 24 months from the closing of this offering;

“directors” are to our current directors and our director nominees named in this prospectus;

“equity-linked securities” are to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for shares of our Class A common stock issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt securities;

“forward purchase agreement” are to an agreement providing for the sale of our forward purchase units to the Sponsor Affiliates and their permitted transferees in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of our initial business combination;

“forward purchase shares” are to the shares of our Class A common stock to be issued pursuant to the forward purchase agreement;
 
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“forward purchase warrants” are to warrants to purchase shares of our Class A common stock to be issued pursuant to the forward purchase agreement;

“forward purchase unit” are to one forward purchase share and one-third of one forward purchase warrant;

“founder shares” are to shares of our Class B common stock initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to this offering and our shares of Class A common stock that will be issued upon conversion thereof as provided therein;

“FVC” means Fin Venture Capital Management LLC, a member of the sponsor;

“GFC” means Grand Fortune Capital (H.K.) Company Limited, a member of the sponsor;

“initial stockholders” are to our sponsor and the other holders of our founder shares prior to this offering (if any);

“letter agreement” are to the letter agreement, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part;

“management” or our “management team” are to our directors and officers;

“private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of this offering;

“public shares” are to shares of our Class A common stock sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market);

“public stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor, directors and officers to the extent our sponsor, directors or officers purchase public shares, provided their status as a “public stockholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares;

“specified future issuance” are to an issuance of a class of equity or equity-linked securities to specified purchasers, which may include affiliates of FVC and/or one or more investors in funds or separate accounts managed by FVC, that we may determine to make in connection with financing our initial business combination, to the extent permitted under applicable regulatory and contractual requirements related to those funds and accounts;

“sponsor” are to ExcelFin SPAC LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;

“Sponsor Affiliates” are two affiliates of the sponsor;

warrants” are to our redeemable warrants sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market); and

“we,” “us,” “our” or our “company” are to ExcelFin Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation.
Unless we state otherwise, the information in this prospectus assumes that (a) the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 750,000 founder shares and (b) no securities will be issued pursuant to the forward purchase agreement.
 
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THE OFFERING
In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the backgrounds of the members of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company and the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section below entitled “Risk Factors” of this prospectus.
Securities offered
20,000,000 units (or 23,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of:

one share of Class A common stock; and

one-third of one redeemable warrant.
Proposed Nasdaq symbols
Units: “XFINU”
Class A common stock: “XFIN”
Warrants: “XFINW”
Trading commencement and separation of Class A common stock and
warrants
The units are expected to begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The shares of Class A common stock and warrants constituting the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus (or, if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless UBS Securities LLC informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the shares of Class A common stock and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of Class A common stock and warrants. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least three units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant. Additionally, the units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.
Separate trading of the Class A common stock and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K
In no event will the shares of Class A common stock and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet of the company reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form
 
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8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
Units:
Number issued and outstanding before this offering
0
Number issued and outstanding after this offering
20,000,000(1)
Common stock:
Number issued and outstanding before this offering
5,750,000(2)(3)
Number issued and outstanding after this offering
25,000,000(1)(3)(4)
Warrants:
Number of private placement warrants to be sold in a private placement simultaneously with this offering
5,666,667(1)
Number of warrants to be outstanding after this offering and the sale of private placement warrants
12,333,334(1)
(1)
Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 750,000 founder shares. Also, does not include any shares of Class A common stock or warrants issuable pursuant to the forward purchase agreement.
(2)
Consists solely of founder shares and includes up to 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
(3)
Founder shares are currently classified as shares of Class B common stock, which shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as described below adjacent to the caption “Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights.”
(4)
Includes 20,000,000 public shares and 5,000,000 founder shares.
Exercisability
Each whole warrant offered in this offering is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock, subject to adjustment as provided herein, and only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade.
We structured each unit to contain one-third of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock, as compared to units issued by some other similar blank check companies which contain whole warrants exercisable for one whole share, in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of our initial business combination as compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, which we believe will make us a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses.
Exercise price
$11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein.
In addition, if  (x) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less
 
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than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance), or the Newly Issued Price, (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the completion of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume-weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 20-trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price and, in the case of the public warrants only, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Redemption of public warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
Exercise period
The warrants will become exercisable on the warrant exercise date, which is the later of:

30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; and

12 months from the closing of this offering;
provided in each case that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the public and private warrant agreements, as applicable).
We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants at this time. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the public warrants expire or, in the case of public warrants only, are redeemed, as specified in the public or private warrant agreement, as applicable. If a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business
 
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combination, public warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any other period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise public warrants on a “cashless basis”in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption.
Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares of Class A common stock under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time on the warrant expiration date, which is five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. On the exercise of any public warrant, the public warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us and not placed in the trust account.
Redemption of public warrants
Once the public warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding public warrants

in whole and not in part;

at a price of  $0.01 per public warrant;

upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and

if, and only if, the closing price of our Class A common stock has been at least $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any ten (10) trading days within the twenty (20) trading-day period ending on the third (3rd) trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is given to the public warrant holders.
We will not redeem the public warrants for cash unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period or we have elected to require the exercise of the public warrants on a “cashless basis” as described below. If and when the public warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
 
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If we call the public warrants for redemption for cash, as described above, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise public warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their public warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of public warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our public warrants.
Forward Purchase Agreement
In connection with the consummation of this offering, we will enter into a forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates, pursuant to which such affiliates will commit that they will purchase from us up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units, consisting of one share of Class A common stock, or a forward purchase share, and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock, or a forward purchase warrant, for $10.00 per unit, or an aggregate amount of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available to us from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained by us in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, each affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval of its investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement.
The forward purchase shares will be identical to the Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that pursuant to the forward purchase agreement, they will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except as described herein. The forward purchase warrants will have the same terms as the private placement warrants.
Founder shares
In March 2021, our sponsor paid certain offering costs totaling $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, in exchange for an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares, par value $0.0001 per share. Prior to the initial investment in the company of  $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The purchase price of these founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to us by the number of founder shares issued. Our initial stockholders will collectively own 20% of our
 
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issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a stock dividend or share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Up to 750,000 founder shares are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that:

the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions contained in a letter agreement that our initial stockholders, directors and officers have entered into with us, as described in more detail below;

pursuant to such letter agreement, our initial stockholders, directors and officers have agreed to waive: (1) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (2) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window or during any extended time that we have to consummate a business combination beyond 24 months as a result of a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or an Extension Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame). If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders, directors and officers have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares and public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial
 
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stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 7,500,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,250,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved;

the founder shares will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described in more detail below; and

the founder shares are entitled to registration rights.
Transfer restrictions on founder
shares
Pursuant to a letter agreement with us, our initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (B) subsequent to our initial business combination (x) if the last reported sale price of our shares of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions) for any 20-trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property (except with respect to permitted transferees as described herein under “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). Any permitted transferees would be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial stockholders with respect to any founder shares. We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up.
Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights
We have 5,750,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, issued and outstanding. The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and other similar transactions, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination (other than the forward purchase units), the
 
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ratio at which the shares of our Class B common stock will convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B common stock agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of all shares of our common stock issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering, plus all shares of our Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, excluding the forward purchase units and any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in our initial business combination. The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for our shares of Class A common stock issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt securities.
Election and removal of directors; Voting rights
With respect to any matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, holders of our Class A common stock and holders of our Class B common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.
Private placement warrants
Our sponsor has subscribed to purchase an aggregate of 5,666,667 private placement warrants (or 6,266,667 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) at a price of  $1.50 per private placement warrant ($8,500,000 in the aggregate, or $9,400,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) in a private placement transaction. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. A portion of the purchase price of the private placement warrants will be added to the proceeds from this offering to be held in the trust account. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us and will be exercisable on a cashless basis (see “Description of Securities—Warrants—Private Placement Warrants”)..
Transfer restrictions on private placement warrants
The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement
 
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warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (except as described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”).
Cashless exercise of private placement warrants
If holders of private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” ​(as defined below) of the Class A common stock over the exercise price of the private placement warrants by (y) the “fair market value.” For purposes of this paragraph, “fair market value” means the volume-weighted average reported closing price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise of the private placement warrants is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that the private placement warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis is because it is not known at this time whether our sponsor or its permitted transferees will be affiliated with us following a business combination. If our sponsor or its permitted transferees remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that restrict insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods.
Proceeds to be held in trust account
Nasdaq listing rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. Of the $208.5 million in gross proceeds we will receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, or $239.4 million if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, $202.0 million ($10.10 per Unit), or $232.3 million ($10.10 per Unit) if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full (including $7,000,000 (or up to $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting commissions), will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account at               with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and $2.5 million will be used to pay expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries.
Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination; (2) the
 
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redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within the completion window, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.
Anticipated expenses and funding
sources
Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, no proceeds held in the trust account will be available for our use, except the withdrawal of interest to pay taxes or to redeem our public shares in connection with an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as described above. Based upon current interest rates, we expect the trust account to generate approximately $200,000 of interest annually (assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year). Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from:

the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account, which will be approximately 1,750,000 in working capital after the payment of approximately $750,000 in expenses relating to this offering; and

any loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or any of their respective affiliates or other third parties, although they are under no obligation to loan funds to, or otherwise invest in, us; and provided that any such loans will not have any claim on the proceeds held in the trust account unless such proceeds are released to us upon completion of our initial business combination.
Conditions to completing our initial business combination
There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. The Nasdaq rules require our initial business combination to occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on Nasdaq for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net assets test. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated
 
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industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
If our board of directors is not able independently to determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We will complete our initial business combination only if the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test; provided that in the event that our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our
securities
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Any such price per share may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates are under no obligation or duty to do so and they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the
 
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funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions. If our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. See “Proposed Business—​Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will select which stockholders to enter into private transactions with.
We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will be restricted from making any purchases if such purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.
Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein.
The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.10 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our initial stockholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Manner of conducting redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (1) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the
 
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business combination or (2) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would typically require stockholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other reasons.
If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and

file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase our Class A common stock in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender
 
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offer and not complete such initial business combination, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will:

conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and

file proxy materials with the SEC.
We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least ten days prior to the stockholder vote. However, we expect that a preliminary proxy statement would be made available to such stockholders in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Although we are not required to do so, we intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any stockholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our Nasdaq listing or Exchange Act registration.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders, officers and directors will count towards this quorum and have agreed to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that at the time of any stockholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote thereon. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 7,500,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,250,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved. These quorum and voting thresholds and agreements may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or do not vote at all.
 
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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions. Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (1) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners; (2) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or (3) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all public shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption
rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve our initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares.
Limitation on redemption rights of stockholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold stockholder vote
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” ​(as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange
 
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Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our sponsor or its affiliates to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights against a business combination if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or its affiliates at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem to no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those stockholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination.
Redemption rights in connection with proposed amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that any of its provisions, including those related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances), may be amended if approved by holders of at least 50% of our issued and outstanding common stock, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 50% of our issued and outstanding common stock, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 50% of our issued and outstanding common stock. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders. Prior to an initial business combination, we may not issue additional securities that can vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our initial stockholders,
 
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who will beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering), may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. Our initial stockholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination
On the completion of our initial business combination, all amounts held in the trust account will be disbursed directly by the trustee or released to us to pay amounts due to any public stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination,” to pay the underwriters their deferred underwriting commissions, to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or the redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
 
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Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we will initially have only 24 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time period.
Our initial stockholders have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time frame. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the allotted time frame and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of
 
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common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions.
Limited payments to insiders
There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments made by us to our sponsor, directors or officers, or our or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:

repayment of an aggregate of up to $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;

payment to our sponsor of a total of  $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services;

payment of customary fees for financial advisory services;

reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and

repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of  $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender.
These payments may be funded using the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the trust account released to us in connection therewith.
Our audit committee will review and approve all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, directors, officers or our or any of their respective affiliates, which may include reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations.
Audit committee
Prior to the effectiveness of this registration statement, we will have established and will maintain an audit committee to,
 
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among other things, monitor compliance with the terms described above and the other terms relating to this offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the audit committee will be charged with the responsibility to promptly take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of this offering. For more information, see the section entitled “Management—​Committees of the Board of Directors—Audit Committee.”
Conflicts of interest
Each of FVC and GFC manages several investments or investment vehicles and an acquisition opportunity that may be suitable for us may also fit the investment objectives of a different FVC fund or affiliates of GFC. If these funds or affiliates of GFC decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from procuring such opportunities. In addition, investment ideas generated within FVC, GFC or their portfolio companies may be suitable for both us and for a current or future FVC fund or affiliates of GFC and may be directed to such investment vehicle rather than to us. In addition, Brady Dougan, who will serve as our advisor immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus, is currently serving as the CEO of Exos TFP Holdings LLC.
Our officers and directors may owe competing duties to FVC, GFC and other enterprises, and opportunities presented to them may not be presented to us as a result of such conflicts. Also, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Our sponsor, directors and officers are not prohibited from sponsoring, investing in or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies (including special purpose acquisition companies similar to our company), including in connection with their initial business combinations, prior to us completing our initial business combination. Potential investors should also be aware of certain potential conflicts of interest as further described in “Management—Conflicts of Interest.”
If any of our directors or officers become aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for another entity to whom they owe fiduciary or contractual duties, he or she may need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to our Sponsor and Management Team and Their Respective Affiliates—Certain of our directors and officers are now, and
 
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all of them may become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.” We do not believe, however, that any of the foregoing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations will materially affect our ability to identify and pursue business combination opportunities or complete our initial business combination.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our initial stockholders, directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our initial stockholders, directors or officers, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, may engage independent advisors to assist with the evaluation and will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm that such business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
In addition, our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in the company in connection with the initial business combination, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or current intention to do so. If our sponsor or any of its affiliates elects to make additional investments, such proposed investments could influence our sponsor’s motivation to complete an initial business combination.
In addition, we may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an entity to which an officer or director has a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Such entities may include investment funds of FVC or affiliates of GFC. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by making a specified future issuance to any such entity.
We may pursue an acquisition opportunity jointly with one or more entities affiliated with FVC, GFC and/or one or more investors in funds managed by FVC. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. We refer to this potential future issuance, or a similar issuance to other specified purchasers, as a “specified future issuance” throughout this prospectus. The amount and other terms and conditions of any such specified future issuance would be determined at the time thereof. We are not obligated to make any specified future issuance and may determine not to do so. This is not an offer for any specified future issuance. Pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of our Class B common stock, any such specified future issuance (including the forward purchase shares) would result in an adjustment to the conversion ratio such that our initial shareholders and
 
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their permitted transferees, if any, would retain their aggregate percentage ownership at 20% of the sum of the total shares of all shares of common stock issued and outstanding upon completion of this offering plus all shares issued in the specified future issuance (including the forward purchase shares), unless the holders of a majority of the then-issued and outstanding Class B common stock agreed to waive such adjustment with respect to the specified future issuance at the time thereof.
They may waive such specified future issuance due to (but not limited to) the following: (i) closing conditions which are part of the initial business combination; (ii) during negotiations with Class A common stockholders on structuring an initial business combination; (iii) during negotiations with parties providing financing which would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock; or (iv) as part of the Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any such specified future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. If such adjustment is not waived, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the specified future issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock. For a further discussion of conflicts, please refer to “Risk Factors” and “Management—Conflicts of Interest.”
Indemnity
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.10 per public share or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations.
 
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Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:

We are a newly incorporated company with no operating history, no revenues and no identified operating business as a target, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.

Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of such business combination.

We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may receive only $10.10 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders, directors and officers have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.

The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.

The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.

Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities.

If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.

You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares and/or warrants, potentially at a loss.

The Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
 
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You will not be entitled to certain protections afforded to investors of some other blank check companies.

Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.

If the funds not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of this offering, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.

Past performance by our management team, FVC, GFC and their respective affiliates including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company.

Certain of our directors and officers are now, and all of them may become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

Unlike some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial stockholders will receive additional shares of Class A common stock if we issue certain shares to consummate an initial business combination.

We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on stockholders.
 
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RISK FACTORS
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, before making a decision to invest in our units. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination
We are a newly incorporated company with no operating history, no revenues and no identified operating business as a target, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a newly incorporated company with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through this offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of June 30, 2021, we had no cash, a working capital deficit of  $522,038 and deferred offering costs of  $429,418. Further, we expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Our plans to raise capital and to consummate our initial business combination may not be successful. In addition, management is currently evaluating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and its effect on the company’s financial position, results its operations and/or search for a target company. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to consummate this offering or our inability to continue as a going concern.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may not hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable corporate law or stock exchange rules or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons. For instance, Nasdaq listing rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting, but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding shares or that involves a merger to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding shares or that involves a merger, we would seek stockholder approval of such business combination. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock do not approve of the business combination we consummate. Please see the section entitled “Proposed Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Stockholders may not have the ability to approve our initial business combination” for additional information.
 
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RISK FACTORS
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders, directors and officers have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our initial stockholders, directors and officers have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 7,500,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 1,250,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such initial business combination approved. Our directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, imposing similar obligations on them with respect to public shares acquired by them, if any. We expect that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock at the time of any such stockholder vote. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary stockholder approval will be received than would be the case if such persons agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders.
In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management will rely on the availability of all of the funds from the sale of the forward purchase units to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of some or all of the forward purchase units fails to close, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.
We will enter into a forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates pursuant to which they have agreed to purchase an aggregate of up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units for an aggregate purchase price of up to $65,000,000 in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of our initial business combination.
The funds from the sale of the forward purchase units are expected to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in our initial business combination, and to pay expenses in connection with our initial business combination and may be used, with the agreement of the Sponsor Affiliates, for working capital in the post-transaction company. If the Sponsor Affiliates do not agree to fund more than the amount necessary to complete the initial business combination, the post-transaction company may not have enough cash available for working capital. The obligations under the forward purchase agreement do not depend on whether any public stockholders elect to redeem their shares in connection with our initial business combination and provide us with a minimum funding level for the initial business combination. However, if the sale of the forward purchase units does not close by reason of the failure of either Sponsor Affiliate to fund the purchase price for its forward purchase units, for example, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination. Each affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval, prior to our entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, of its investment committee. Additionally, the Sponsor Affiliates’ obligations to purchase the forward purchase units are subject to termination prior to the closing of the sale of such securities by mutual written consent, or automatically: (i) if our initial business combination is not consummated within the completion window; or (ii) if our sponsor or we become subject to any voluntary or involuntary petition under the United States federal bankruptcy laws or any state insolvency law, in each case which is not withdrawn within sixty (60) days after being filed, or a receiver, fiscal agent or similar officer is appointed by a court for business or property of our sponsor or us, in each case which is not removed, withdrawn or terminated within sixty (60) days after such appointment. In addition, the Sponsor Affiliates’ obligations to purchase the forward purchase units are subject to fulfillment of customary closing conditions, including that our initial business combination must be consummated substantially concurrently with the purchase of the forward purchase units. In the event of any such failure to fund by either Sponsor Affiliate, any obligation is so terminated or any such condition is not satisfied and not waived by such party, we may not be able to obtain additional funds to account for such shortfall on terms favorable to us or at all. Any such shortfall would also reduce the amount of funds that we have available for working capital of the post-business combination company.
 
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RISK FACTORS
Your opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of such business combination.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any target businesses. Additionally, since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such stockholder approval. Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, your opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with a business combination and such amount of deferred underwriting discount is not available for us to use as consideration in an initial business combination. If we are able to consummate an initial business combination, the per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay and the payment of the deferred underwriting commissions. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target). Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights and, therefore, we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability
 
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RISK FACTORS
that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful increases. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within the completion window. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the end of the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.
The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in, and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result in, a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected, and in the future could adversely affect, the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we may consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete an initial business combination if concerns relating to COVID-19 continue to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors, limit the ability to conduct due diligence or limit the ability of a potential target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for an initial business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of and perceptions to COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
Finally, the outbreak of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities.
As the number of SPACs evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of SPACs that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for SPACs have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many SPACs
 
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seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration with the SEC. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more SPACs seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause targets companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for SPACs has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after this offering, which may include acting as M&A advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. Our underwriters are entitled to receive deferred underwriting commissions that will be released from the trust account only upon a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us after this offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after this offering, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing M&A advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing transactions. We may pay such underwriter or its affiliate fair and reasonable fees or other compensation that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with any of the underwriters or their respective affiliates and no fees or other compensation for such services will be paid to any of the underwriters or their respective affiliates prior to the date that is 60 days from the date of this prospectus, unless the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) determines that such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with this
 
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offering. The underwriters are also entitled to receive deferred underwriting commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination. The underwriters’ or their respective affiliates’ financial interests tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may receive only $10.10 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed that we must complete our initial business combination within the completion window. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the outbreak of COVID-19 continues both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. It may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.10 per share, or less than $10.10 per share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—Risks Relating to our Securities and Trust Account—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Any such price per share may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors
 
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or any of their respective affiliates are under no obligation or duty to do so and they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. See “Proposed Business—Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates will select which stockholders to enter into private transactions with. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of our initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of our initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. This may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our securities and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these criteria and guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our directors and officers will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective
 
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target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm regarding fairness. Consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we will not obtain an opinion that the price we are paying is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Because we are not limited to a particular industry, sector or geography or any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company of any size (subject to our satisfaction of the 80% of net assets test) and in any industry, sector or geography, and not in the FinTech B2B or SaaS space. However, we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or development stage entity. Although our directors and officers will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to our investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholder or warrant holder who chooses to remain a stockholder or warrant holder, respectively, following our initial business combination
 
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could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Risks Relating to our Securities and Trust Account
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer or proxy materials documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Proposed Business—Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419—Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights.”
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares and/or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within the completion window, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares and/or warrants, potentially at a loss.
The Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
We intend to have our units listed on Nasdaq on or promptly after the date of this prospectus and our Class A common stock and warrants listed on or promptly after their date of separation. Although after giving effect to this offering we expect to meet the minimum initial listing requirements set forth in the rules of Nasdaq, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. In general, we must maintain a minimum amount in shareholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum of 300 round lot holders. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements,
 
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which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our shareholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5 million and we would be required to have a minimum of 300 round lot holders of our unrestricted securities (with at least 50% of such round-lot holders holding unrestricted securities with a market value of at least $2,500). We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

reduced liquidity for our securities;

a determination that our Class A common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;

a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996 (“NSMIA”), prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A common stock and warrants will qualify as covered securities under such statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, NSMIA does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under NSMIA and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
You will not be entitled to certain protections afforded to investors of some other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the U.S. securities laws. However, because we will have net tangible assets in excess of  $5,000,000 upon the successful completion of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and will file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet of the company demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if this offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419, please see “Proposed Business— Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.”
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and
 
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restated certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” ​(as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do, and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and forward purchase units, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, in the event we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we are obligated to pay cash for our shares of Class A common stock, these payments will reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the funds not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of this offering, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of this offering, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. Any such event in the future may negatively impact the analysis regarding our ability to continue as a going concern at such time.
We believe that, upon the closing of this offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of this offering;
 
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however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we may depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, only approximately $1,750,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of  $750,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of  $750,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their respective affiliates is under any obligation to loan funds to, or otherwise invest in, us in such circumstances. Any such loans may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present with a particular target business that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write down or write off the value of assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise, and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be
 
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subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any stockholder or warrant holder who chooses to remain a stockholder or warrant holder, respectively, following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver only if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where we are unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.10 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors.
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.10 per public share or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Our sponsor may not have sufficient funds available to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations, and therefore, no funds are currently set aside to cover any such obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.10 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our directors or officers will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
 
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Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of  (1) $10.10 per public share or (2) such lesser amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.10 per share.
The securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share.
The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in
 
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the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our public stockholders in connection with our liquidation would be reduced.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including restrictions on the nature of our investments and restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:

registration as an investment company with the SEC;

adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and

reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are currently not subject to.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. The proceeds held in the trust account may be invested by the trustee only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Because the investment of the proceeds will be restricted to these instruments, we believe we will meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within 24 months of the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, our public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within the completion window or during any Extension Period, we will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and which interest shall be net of taxes payable), pro rata to our public stockholders by way of redemption and cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of our affairs, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the trust account shall be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to windup, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public stockholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution are subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond the initial 24 months before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and then only in cases where investors have properly sought to redeem their shares of Class A common stock. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior thereto.
 
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Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 24th month from the closing of this offering (or the end of any Extension Period) in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we do not intend to comply with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the ten years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, consultants, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
We may not hold an annual stockholder meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our stockholders to elect directors.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination (unless required by Nasdaq or the DGCL) and thus may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting of stockholders be held for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with a company’s bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to our consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL. Until we hold an annual meeting of stockholders, public stockholders may not be afforded the opportunity to discuss company affairs with management.
 
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We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a "cashless basis" and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreements, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our reasonable best efforts to file with the SEC , and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating thereto until the warrants expire or, in the case of the public warrants only, are redeemed. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their public warrants on a cashless basis. However, no public warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their public warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder or an exemption from registration or qualification is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a public warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their public warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our reasonable best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the public warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such public warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such public warrant and such public warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their public warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise such private placement warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in this offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to exercise their private placement warrants and sell the shares of Class A common stock underlying such private placement warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their public warrants and sell the underlying common stock. If and when the private placement warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying shares of Class A common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the private placement warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their public warrants.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders, holders of our forward purchase units and their permitted transferees may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of this offering, at or after the time of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of their founder shares after those shares convert to shares of our Class A common stock. In addition, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale
 
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of the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register the resale of such warrants or the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. Pursuant to the forward purchase agreement, we have agreed that we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file within 30 days after the closing of the initial business combination a registration statement with the SEC for a secondary offering of the forward purchase shares and the forward purchase warrants (and the underlying Class A common stock) and to cause such registration statement to be declared effective as soon as practicable after it is filed. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the shares of common stock owned by our initial stockholders or their permitted transferees, our private placement warrants or warrants issued in connection with working capital loans, or issued as forward purchase units are registered for resale.
We may issue additional shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will authorize the issuance of up to 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 50,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 162,666,667 and 45,000,000 (assuming in each case that the underwriters have not exercised their over-allotment option and no forward purchase units are issued) authorized but unissued shares of Class A and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants but not upon conversion of the Class B common stock. Shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of our Class A common stock, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein. Immediately after this offering, there will be no preferred shares issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock, and may issue shares of preferred stock, in order to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock to redeem the warrants as described in “Description of Securities—Redeemable Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of warrants” or upon conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions that will be contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:

may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B common stock resulted in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock;

may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if shares of preferred stock are issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;
 
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could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock is issued, which could result in the resignation or removal of our present directors and officers;

may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us;

may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants; and

may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
We may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your public warrants could be increased, the public warrants could be converted into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a public warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our public warrants will be issued in registered form under a public warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The public warrant agreement provides that the terms of the public warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any other modification or amendment to the terms of the public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the public warrants, convert the public warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a public warrant. Our initial stockholders may purchase public warrants with the intention of reducing the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to warrant holders for approval, including amending the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. While our initial stockholders have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for such transactions, there is no limit on the number of our public warrants that our initial stockholders may purchase and it is not currently known how many public warrants, if any, our initial stockholders may hold at the time of our initial business combination or at any other time during which the terms of the public warrants may be proposed to be amended. Please see “Proposed Business—Permitted purchases of our securities.”.
A provision of our warrant agreements may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
Unlike most blank check companies, if
(i)
we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a newly issued price of less than $9.20 per share;
(ii)
the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and
(iii)
the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination is below $9.20 per share,
then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the greater of the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on
 
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the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination and the newly issued price and, in the case of the public warrants only, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of public warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the greater of the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination and the newly issued price. This could make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Our warrant agreements will designate the courts of the City of New York, County of New York, State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreements will provide that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreements will be brought and enforced in the courts of the City of New York, County of New York, State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreements will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act, Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreements. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of the warrant agreements, is filed in a court other than a court of the City of New York, County of New York, State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a “foreign action” in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions, and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such action brought in such court to enforce the forum provisions by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Warrant holders who are unable to bring their claims in the judicial forum of their choosing may be required to incur additional costs in pursuit of actions which are subject to our choice-of-forum provision. However, the enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions (including exclusive federal forum provisions for actions, suits or proceedings asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act) in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and there is uncertainty as to whether courts would enforce the exclusive forum provisions in our warrant agreements. Additionally, our stockholders cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our warrant agreements to be inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions
 
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include the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock, which may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company or our company’s directors, officers or other employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (1) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (2) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or agent of our company to our company or our stockholders, or any claim for aiding and abetting any such alleged breach, (3) action asserting a claim against our company or any director, officer or employee of our company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or (4) action asserting a claim against us or any director, officer or employee of our company governed by the internal affairs doctrine except for, as to each of  (1) through (4) above, any claim (a) as to which the Court of Chancery determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination) or (b) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this paragraph will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or otherwise arising under federal securities laws, for which the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If any action the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions is filed in a court other than a court located within the State of Delaware, a foreign action, in the name of any stockholder, such stockholder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions, an enforcement action, and (y) having service of process made upon such stockholder in any such enforcement action by service upon such stockholder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such stockholder.
This forum selection clause may discourage claims or limit stockholders’ ability to submit claims in a judicial forum that they find favorable and may result in additional costs for a stockholder seeking to bring a claim. While we believe the risk of a court declining to enforce this forum selection clause is low, if a court were to determine the forum selection clause to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs in conjunction with our efforts to resolve the dispute in an alternative jurisdiction, which could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
Risks Related to our Sponsor and Management Team and Their Respective Affiliates
Past performance by our management team, FVC, GFC and their respective affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company.
Information regarding performance by our management team, FVC, GFC and their respective affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team and their
 
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respective affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, is not a guarantee either (1) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (2) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team, FVC, GFC or their affiliates or any related investment’s performance as indicative of our future performance of an investment in the company or the returns the company will, or is likely to, generate going forward.
We may acquire a target business through an Affiliated Joint Acquisition with one or more affiliates of FVC, GFC and/or one or more investors in funds managed by FVC. This may result in conflicts of interest as well as dilutive issuances of our securities.
We may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an entity affiliated with FVC, GFC and/or one or more investors in funds managed by FVC. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by making a specified future issuance to any such parties. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours. The amount and other terms and conditions of any such specified future issuance would be determined at the time thereof. We are not obligated to make any specified future issuance and may determine not to do so.
In addition, any specified future issuance in connection with an Affiliated Joint Acquisition would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of our Class B common stock, which, unless waived, would result in an adjustment to the conversion ratio of our Class B common stock such that our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, would retain their aggregate percentage ownership at 20% of the sum of the total shares of all shares of common stock issued and outstanding upon completion of this offering plus all shares issued in the specified future issuance. They may waive such specified future issuance due to (but not limited to) the following: (i) closing conditions which are part of the initial business combination; (ii) during negotiations with Class A common stockholders on structuring an initial business combination; (iii) during negotiations with parties providing financing which would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock; or (iv) as part of the Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any such specified future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. If such adjustment is not waived, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the specified future issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in acquisition targets that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if such business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors relevant to such acquisition. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Our directors and officers will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our directors and officers are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a
 
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business combination and their other responsibilities. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our business combination. Each of our directors and officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he or she may be entitled to substantial compensation and our directors and officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors will also serve as officers and/or board members for other entities. If our directors’ and officers’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. Please see “Management—Directors and Officers” for a discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs.
We are dependent upon our directors and officers and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our directors and officers, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our ability to effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of our or a target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
In addition, the directors and officers of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition
 
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to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination, as we do not expect that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
We may have limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholder or warrant holder who chooses to remain a stockholder or warrant holder, respectively, following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders and warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
The directors and officers of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Certain of our directors and officers are now, and all of them may become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Following the completion of this offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor and directors and officers are, or may become, affiliated with entities that are engaged in a similar business. Our sponsor, directors and officers are not prohibited from sponsoring, investing in or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies (including special purpose acquisition companies similar to our company), including in connection with their initial business combinations, prior to us completing our initial business combination. In particular, certain of our officers and certain of our directors have fiduciary and contractual duties to FVC, GFC and to certain companies in which they have invested, including companies in industries we may target for our initial business combination. Potential investors should also be aware of certain potential conflicts of interest as further described in “Management—Conflicts of Interest.”
As described therein, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our directors and officers have now and may have in the future similar legal obligations to other companies that would require them to present business opportunities to those companies. Accordingly, if any of our directors or officers become aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for another entity to whom he or she owes fiduciary or contractual duties, he or she may need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any
 
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director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
For additional discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see “Management—Directors and Officers,” “Management—​Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”
Our directors, officers, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we currently do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
In particular, affiliates of our sponsor have invested in a diverse set of industries. As a result, there may be substantial overlap between companies that would be a suitable business combination for us and companies that would make an attractive target for such other affiliates.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, directors and officers with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, directors and officers. Certain of our directors and officers also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including those described under “Management—Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, directors and officers are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no preliminary discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria and guidelines for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business—Initial Business Combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement that we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, may engage independent advisors to assist with the evaluation and will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our directors or officers, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.1
The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may significantly dilute the implied value of your public shares in the event we consummate an initial business combination, and our sponsor is likely to make a substantial profit on its investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our common stock to materially decline.
While we are offering our units at an offering price of  $10.00 per unit and the amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.10 per public share, implying an initial value of  $10.10 per public share, our sponsor paid only a nominal aggregate purchase price of  $25,000 for the founder shares, or approximately $0.004 per share. As a result, the value of your public shares may be significantly diluted in the event we consummate an initial business combination. Our sponsor has committed to invest
1
FVC: If any of the officers have non-competes, we will need a related risk factor.
 
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an aggregate of  $8,525,000 in us in connection with this offering, comprised of the $25,000 purchase price for the founder shares and the $8,500,000 purchase price for the private placement warrants (assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised). Even if the trading price of our common stock significantly declines, our sponsor will stand to make significant profit on its investment in us. In addition, our sponsor could potentially recoup its entire investment in us even if the trading price of our common stock is less than $2.00 per share and even if the private placement warrants are worthless. As a result, our sponsor is likely to make a substantial profit on its investment in us even if we select and consummate an initial business combination that causes the trading price of our common stock to decline, while our public shareholders who purchased their units in this offering could lose significant value in their public shares. Our sponsor may therefore be economically incentivized to consummate an initial business combination with a riskier, weaker-performing or less-established target business than would be the case if our sponsor had paid the same per share price for the founder shares as our public shareholders paid for their public shares.
Since our initial stockholders will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
In March 2021, our sponsor subscribed for an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of  $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. Our initial stockholders will collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a stock dividend or share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination and our sponsor and members of our board of directors acquired founder shares for approximately $0.004 per share and we are offering units at a price of  $10.00 per unit in this offering; as a result, our sponsor and members of our board of directors could make a substantial profit after the initial business combination even if public investors experience substantial losses and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination..
In addition, our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 5,666,667 private placement warrants (or 6,266,667 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) at a price of  $1.50 per warrant ($8,500,000 in the aggregate, or $9,400,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), that will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination. Each private placement warrant may be exercised for one share of our Class A common stock at a price of  $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein.
The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering except that: (1) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions contained in a letter agreement that our initial stockholders, directors and officers have entered into with us; (2) pursuant to such letter agreement, our initial stockholders, directors and officers have agreed to waive: (i) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window or during any Extension Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business
 
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combination within the prescribed time frame); (3) the founder shares will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described in more detail below; and (4) the founder shares are entitled to registration rights. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders, directors and officers have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any founder shares and public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to or waiver of the letter agreement, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to or waivers of the letter agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any amendment or waiver entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to or waiver of any of our material agreements will be disclosed in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments or waivers would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
The personal and financial interests of our sponsor, directors and officers may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the deadline for completing our initial business combination nears.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and officers.
We will enter into agreements with our directors and officers to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if  (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
General Risks
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this prospectus to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following this offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;
 
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our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand;

our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;

our inability to pay dividends on our common stock;

using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;

increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and

limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may be able to complete only one business combination with the proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the sale of the forward purchase units, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from this offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the sale of the forward purchase units will provide us with $208,500,000 (or $239,400,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) that we may use to complete our initial business combination, which includes $7,000,000 (or up to $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account, and excludes estimated offering expenses of  $750,000).
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or

dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous
 
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closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may seek business combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.
We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will complete such business combination only if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of common stock in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity securities of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete a business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our
 
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net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all public shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments, including our warrant agreements, in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that some of our stockholders or warrant holders may not support.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination. To the extent any such amendment would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of at least 50% of our outstanding common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of at least 50% of our issued and outstanding common stock, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 50% of our issued and outstanding common stock. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders. We may not issue additional securities that can vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our initial stockholders, who will beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering),
 
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may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which will govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete our initial business combination with which you do not agree.
Our initial stockholders have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in a letter agreement that we have entered into with our sponsor, directors and officers. Our public stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, this agreement and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, directors or officers for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our public stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
Certain agreements related to this offering may be amended or waived without stockholder approval.
Each of the agreements related to this offering to which we are a party, other than the warrant agreements and the investment management trust agreement, may be amended or waived without stockholder approval. Such agreements are: the underwriting agreement; the letter agreement among us and our initial stockholders, officers and directors; the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders; the private placement warrants purchase agreement between us and our sponsor; the forward purchase agreement between us and the Sponsor Affiliates; and the administrative services agreement among us, our sponsor and an affiliate of our sponsor. These agreements contain various provisions that our public stockholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the underwriting agreement contain certain lock-up provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and other securities held by our initial stockholders, officers and directors. Amendments to or waivers of such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to or waiver of any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to or waivers of any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any amendment or waiver entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to or waiver of any of our material agreements will be disclosed in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments or waivers would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities. For example, amendments to or waivers of the lock-up provision discussed above may result in our initial stockholders selling their securities earlier than they would otherwise be permitted, which may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and forward purchase units will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any target business, we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for
 
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any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and forward purchase units prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate.
In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our directors, officers or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our initial stockholders will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Upon the closing of this offering, our initial stockholders will own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering).
Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our directors or officers, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this prospectus. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our company, our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of Class A common stock in this offering or in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their influence over these actions. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will exert significant influence over actions requiring a stockholder vote at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
Our initial stockholders will receive additional shares of Class A common stock if we issue certain shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein.
In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities (as described herein) other than forward purchase units, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, the ratio at which the shares of our Class B common stock will convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B common stock agree to waive such anti-dilution adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of all shares of our common stock issued and outstanding upon the completion of this offering, plus all shares of our Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination,
 
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excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, pursuant to the forward purchase agreement or to any seller in our initial business combination.
Our sponsor paid an aggregate of  $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per founder share, and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution upon the purchase of our Class A common stock.
The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the shares of Class A common stock and none to the warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of Class A common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in this offering. Our sponsor acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon the closing of this offering, and assuming no value is ascribed to the warrants included in the units, you and the other public stockholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 91.7% (or $9.17 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of  $0.83 and the initial offering price of  $10.00 per unit. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock result in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public stockholders seek redemptions from the trust. In addition, because of the anti-dilution protection in the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A common stock.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of  $0.01 per public warrant if, among other things, the closing price of our Class A common stock has been at least $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any ten (10) trading days within a twenty (20) trading-day period ending on the third (3rd) trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is given to the public warrant holders. If and when the public warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the issued and outstanding public warrants could force you to: (1) exercise your public warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so (2) sell your public warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your public warrants; or (3) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding public warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your public warrants. The private placement warrants will be nonredeemable like the private placement warrants.
Our management’s ability to require holders of our public warrants to exercise such public warrants on a cashless basis will cause holders to receive fewer Class A common stock upon their exercise of the public warrants than they would have received had they been able to exercise their public warrants for cash.
If we call our public warrants for redemption after the redemption criteria described elsewhere in this prospectus have been satisfied, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise its public warrants (including any public warrants held by our sponsor, officers, directors or their permitted transferees) to do so on a “cashless basis.” If our management chooses to require holders to exercise their public warrants on a cashless basis, the number of Class A common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised their public warrants for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in us.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We will be issuing warrants to purchase 6,666,667 shares of Class A common stock (or up to 7,666,667 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at a price of
 
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$11.50 per whole share (subject to adjustment as provided herein), as part of the units offered by this prospectus and, simultaneously with the closing of this offering, we will be issuing in a private placement an aggregate of 5,666,667 private placement warrants (or 6,266,667 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of  $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Our initial stockholders currently hold 5,750,000 shares of Class B common stock (up to 750,000 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised). The shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of  $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. We will enter into a forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates pursuant to which they have agreed to purchase an aggregate of up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units for a purchase price of  $10.00 per forward purchase unit, or an aggregate purchase price of up to $65,000,000 in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of our initial business combination.To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants or conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock and reduce the value of the Class A common stock issued to complete the business combination. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering except that: (1) they will not be redeemable by us; (2) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) the holders thereof  (including with respect to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights.
Because each unit contains one-third of one redeemable warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit contains one-third of one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreements, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole warrants will trade. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of Class A common stock and one whole warrant to purchase one share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-third of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if they included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
The determination of the offering price of our units and the size of this offering is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities and size of an offering of an operating company in a particular industry. You may have less assurance, therefore, that the offering price of our units properly reflects the value of such units than you would have in a typical offering of an operating company.
Prior to this offering there has been no public market for any of our securities. The public offering price of the units and the terms of the warrants were determined through discussions between us and the underwriters. In determining the size of this offering, management held customary organizational meetings with representatives of the underwriters, both prior to our inception and thereafter, with respect to the state of capital markets, generally, and the amount the underwriters believed they reasonably could raise on our behalf. Factors considered in determining the size of this offering, prices and terms of the units, including the Class A common stock and warrants underlying the units, include:
 
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the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies;

prior offerings of those companies;

our prospects for acquiring an operating business at attractive values;

our capital structure;

an assessment of our management and their experience in identifying operating companies;

general conditions of the securities markets at the time of this offering; and

other factors as were deemed relevant.
Although these factors were considered, the determination of our offering price is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities of an operating company in a particular industry since we have no historical operations or financial results.
There is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
There is currently no market for our securities. Stockholders therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. Following this offering, the price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could
 
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cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of any second quarter of a fiscal year, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the end of such fiscal year. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
If our management team pursues a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
While we intend to focus our search for a target business operating in the United States, if our management team pursues a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination,
 
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conducting due diligence in a foreign market, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:

costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;

rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;

complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;

laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;

tariffs and trade barriers;

regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

longer payment cycles;

changes in local regulations as part of a response to the COVID-19 outbreak;

tax consequences, such as tax law changes, including termination or reduction of tax and other incentives that the applicable government provides to domestic companies, and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;

currency fluctuations and exchange controls, including devaluations and other exchange rate movements;

rates of inflation, price instability and interest rate fluctuations;

challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

cultural and language differences;

employment regulations;

crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars;

deterioration of political relations with the United States;

obligatory military service by personnel; and

government appropriation of assets.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such combination or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, any or all of our management could resign from their positions as officers of the company, and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination could remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with U.S. securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
Our officers, directors and sponsor are from time to time involved in other business ventures unrelated to our business but which may generate business or legal disputes with investors and others unrelated to our company, and these disputes may distract our management from operating our company and/or result in adverse publicity that could be harmful.
Our officers, directors and sponsor are involved in a number of other businesses that are unrelated to our company. The operation of these other businesses from time to time may generate business or legal
 
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disputes involving investors or other parties. These disputes could involve allegations of mismanagement or fraud that could become public and result in adverse publicity for the parties involved. Any such disputes also could distract the member of our management involved in the dispute from time that might otherwise be spent in the operation of our company. Any adverse publicity generated as a result of such a dispute, although unrelated to our business, could nevertheless be detrimental to our management team’s reputation and negatively affect our ability to identify and complete an initial business combination. This could, in turn, have a material and adverse effect on the price of our securities.
After our initial business combination, our results of operations and prospects could be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political, social and government policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on stockholders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located, or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a stockholder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the stockholder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders to pay such taxes. Stockholders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
There has been and may in the future be diversity in the capital structure, financial accounting policies, and resultant financial reporting by special purpose acquisition companies, which may impact the market price for our Class Acommon stock and our ability to complete a business combination.
On April 12, 2021, the staff of the SEC issued a statement related to warrants issued by special purpose acquisition companies (the “SEC Statement”), which resulted in the warrants issued by many special purpose acquisition companies being classified as liabilities rather than equity as previously reported. While we are accounting for our warrants as equity, further statements by the SEC relating to accepted accounting of special purpose acquisition companies could result in the correction of accounting errors in previously issued financial statements, restatements of previously issued audited financial statements, the filing of notices that previously issued financial statements may not be relied upon, and findings of material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting.
 
73​

 
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some statements contained in this prospectus are forward-looking in nature. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus may include, for example, statements about:

our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;

our ability to complete our initial business combination;

our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses;

our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;

our directors and officers allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;

our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;

our pool of prospective target businesses;

our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak;

the ability of our directors and officers to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities;

our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;

the lack of a market for our securities;

the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;

the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties;

our financial performance following this offering; and

the other risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus.
The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
 
74

USE OF PROCEEDS
USE OF PROCEEDS
We are offering 20,000,000 units at an offering price of  $10.00 per unit. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private placement warrants will be used as set forth in the following table.
Without
Over-Allotment
Option
Over-Allotment
Option
Exercised
Gross proceeds
Gross proceeds from units offered to public(1)
$ 200,000,000 $ 230,000,000
Gross proceeds from private placement warrants offered in the private placement
8,500,000 9,400,000
Total gross proceeds
$ 208,500,000 $ 239,400,000
Estimated offering expenses(2)
Underwriting commissions (excluding deferred portion)(3)
$ 4,000,000 $ 4,600,000
Legal fees and expenses
300,000 300,000
Accounting fees and expenses
40,000 40,000
Printing and engraving expenses
25,000 25,000
SEC expenses
34,712 34,712
FINRA expenses
35,000 35,000
Nasdaq listing and filing fees
85,000 85,000
Miscellaneous expenses(4)
230,288 230,288
Total estimated offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions)
$ 750,000 $ 750,000
Proceeds after estimated offering expenses
$ 203,750,000 $ 234,050,000
Held in trust account(3)
$ 202,000,000 $ 232,300,000
% of public offering size
101% 101%
Not held in trust account(2)
$ 1,750,000 $ 1,750,000
The following table shows the use of the approximately $1,750,000 of net proceeds not held in the trust account(5).
Amount
% of
Total
Legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses in connection
with any business combination(6)
$ 600,000 34%
Directors and officers insurance premiums
500,000 28%
Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations
150,000 9%
Payment for office space, administrative and support services
240,000 14%
Nasdaq continued listing fees
85,000 5%
Other miscellaneous expenses
175,000 10%
Total $ 1,750,000 100.0%
(1)
Includes amounts payable to public stockholders who properly redeem their shares in connection with our successful completion of our initial business combination.
(2)
A portion of the offering expenses have been paid from the proceeds of a loan from our sponsor of up to $300,000 as described in this prospectus. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account. These expenses are estimates only. In the event that offering expenses are less than as set forth in this table, any such amounts will be used for post-closing working capital expenses. In the event that the offering expenses are more than as set forth in this table, we may fund such excess with funds not held in the trust account.
 
75​

USE OF PROCEEDS
(3)
The underwriters have agreed to defer underwriting commissions equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds of this offering. Upon completion of our initial business combination, $7,000,000, which constitutes the underwriters’ deferred commissions (or up to $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be paid to the underwriters from the funds held in the trust account, and the remaining funds, less amounts used to pay redeeming stockholders, will be released to us and can be used to pay all or a portion of the purchase price of the business or businesses with which our initial business combination occurs or for general corporate purposes, including payment of principal or interest on indebtedness incurred in connection with our initial business combination, to fund the purchases of other companies or for working capital. The underwriters will not be entitled to any interest accrued on the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions.
(4)
Includes organizational and administrative expenses and may include amounts related to above-listed expenses in the event actual amounts exceed estimates.
(5)
These expenses are estimates only. Our actual expenditures for some or all of these items may differ from the estimates set forth herein. For example, we may incur greater legal and accounting expenses than our current estimates in connection with negotiating and structuring a business combination based upon the level of complexity of such business combination. In the event we identify an acquisition target in a specific industry subject to specific regulations, we may incur additional expenses associated with legal due diligence and the engagement of special legal counsel. In addition, our staffing needs may vary and as a result, we may engage a number of consultants to assist with legal and financial due diligence. We do not anticipate any change in our intended use of proceeds, other than fluctuations among the current categories of allocated expenses, which fluctuations, to the extent they exceed current estimates for any specific category of expenses, would not be available for our expenses. The amount in the table above does not include interest available to us from the trust account. Based upon current interest rates, we estimate that the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $200,000 per year however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. This estimate assumes an interest rate of 0.10% per annum based upon current yields of securities in which the trust account may be invested. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of  $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans, and such terms will be subject to the approval of our audit committee. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
(6)
Includes estimated amounts that may also be used in connection with our initial business combination to fund a “no shop” provision and commitment fees for financing.
Nasdaq listing rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, $202,000,000 (or $232,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), including $7,000,000 (or up to $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of deferred underwriting commissions, will, upon the consummation of this offering, be placed in a U.S.-based trust account at                 with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Based upon current interest rates, we estimate that the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $200,000 per year, assuming an interest rate of 0.10% per year. We will not be permitted to withdraw any of the principal or interest held in the trust account except for the withdrawal of interest to pay taxes, if any. The funds held in the trust account will not otherwise be released from the trust account until the earliest of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within the completion window, subject to applicable law. Based on current interest rates, we expect that interest earned on the trust account will be sufficient to pay taxes.
The net proceeds held in the trust account may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we ultimately complete our initial business combination and to pay the deferred underwriting commissions. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or the redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance
 
76

USE OF PROCEEDS
or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We believe that amounts not held in trust will be sufficient to pay the costs and expenses to which such proceeds are allocated. This belief is based on the fact that while we may begin preliminary due diligence of a target business in connection with an indication of interest, we intend to undertake in-depth due diligence, depending on the circumstances of the relevant prospective acquisition, only after we have negotiated and signed a letter of intent or other preliminary agreement that addresses the terms of a business combination. However, if our estimate of the costs of undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a business combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may be required to raise additional capital, the amount, availability and cost of which is currently unascertainable. If we are required to seek additional capital, we could seek such additional capital through loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or any of their respective affiliates, but such persons are not under any obligation to loan funds to, or otherwise invest in, us.
We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of  $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, the Administrative Services Agreement will terminate, and we will cease paying these monthly fees.
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of June 30, 2021, we have borrowed $191,195 under such promissory note. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 and the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of  $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans, and such terms will be subject to the approval of our audit committee. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
In connection with the consummation of this offering, we will enter into a forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates, pursuant to which such affiliates will commit that they will purchase from us up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units, consisting of one share of Class A common stock, or a forward purchase share, and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock, or a forward purchase warrant, for $10.00 per unit, or an aggregate amount of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available to us from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained by us in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, each affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval of its investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement.
 
77​

USE OF PROCEEDS
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may also purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Please see “Proposed Business—Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities” for a description of how such persons will determine from which stockholders to seek to acquire shares. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. However, such persons have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.
We may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 following such redemptions and the agreement for our initial business combination may require as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights so that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement or any net worth or cash requirements, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination, and may instead search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (1) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within the completion window, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants.
Our initial stockholders, directors and officers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation as described elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition, our initial stockholders have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. However, if our initial stockholders or any of our directors, officers or affiliates acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
 
78

 
DIVIDEND POLICY
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future, except if we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a stock dividend or share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
 
79​

DILUTION
DILUTION
The difference between the public offering price per share of Class A common stock, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units we are offering pursuant to this prospectus or the private placement warrants, and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to investors in this offering. Such calculation does not reflect any dilution associated with the sale and exercise of warrants, including the private placement warrants, which would cause the actual dilution to the public stockholders to be higher, particularly where a cashless exercise is utilized. Net tangible book value per share is determined by dividing our net tangible book value, which is our total tangible assets less total liabilities (including the value of Class A common stock which may be redeemed for cash), by the number of issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock.
At June 30, 2021, our net tangible book value was $(522,038), or approximately $(0.09) per share of Class B common stock. After giving effect to the sale of 20,000,000 shares of Class A common stock included in the units we are offering by this prospectus, the sale of the private placement warrants and the deduction of underwriting commissions and estimated expenses of this offering, our pro forma net tangible book value at June 30, 2021 would have been $5,000,005, or $0.83 per share, representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of 18,975,978 shares of Class A common stock that may be redeemed for cash and assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) of  $0.92 per share to our initial stockholders as of the date of this prospectus and an immediate dilution of  $9.17 per share or 91.7% to our public stockholders not exercising their redemption rights. The dilution to new investors if the underwriters exercise the over-allotment option in full would be an immediate dilution of  $9.27 per share or 92.7%.
The following table illustrates the dilution to the public stockholders on a per-share basis, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units or the private placement warrants:
No exercise of
over-allotment
option
Exercise of
over-allotment
option in full
Public offering price
$ 10.00 $ 10.00
Net tangible book value before this offering
$ (0.09) $ (0.09)
Increase attributable to public stockholders and sale of the placement warrants
0.92 0.82
Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering
0.83 0.73
Dilution to public stockholders
$ 9.17 $ 9.27
Percentage of dilution to public stockholders
91.7% 92.7%
For purposes of presentation, we have reduced our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) by $191,657,375 because holders of up to approximately 94.9% of our public shares may redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account at a per-share redemption price equal to the amount in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of shares of Class A common stock sold in this offering.
The following table sets forth information with respect to our initial stockholders and the public stockholders:
Shares Purchased
Total Consideration
Average Price
Per Share
Number
Percentage
Amount
Percentage
Initial Stockholders(1)(2)
5,000,000 20.0% $ 25,000 0.01% $ 0.005
Public Stockholders
20,000,000 80.0% $ 200,000,000 99.99% $ 10.00
25,000,000 100.00% $ 200,025,000 100.00%
(1)
Assumes the full forfeiture of 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
 
80

DILUTION
(2)
Assumes conversion of Class B common stock into Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis. The dilution to public stockholders would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock result in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon such conversion.
The pro forma net tangible book value per share after this offering is calculated as follows:
Without
Over-allotment
With
Over-allotment
Numerator:
Net tangible book deficit before this offering
$ (522,038) $ (522,038)
Net proceeds from this offering and sale of the placement units, net of
expenses
203,750,000 234,050,000
Plus: Offering costs paid in advance, excluded from tangible book value
429,418 429,418
Less: Deferred underwriting commissions
(7,000,000) (8,050,000)
Less: Proceeds held in trust subject to redemption to maintain net tangible assets of  $5,000,001
(191,657,375) (220,907,375)
$ 5,000,005 $ 5,000,005
Denominator:
Shares of Class B common stock outstanding prior to this offering
5,750,000 5,750,000
Shares of Class B common stock forfeited if over-allotment is not exercised
(750,000)
Shares of Class A common stock included in the units offered
20,000,000 23,000,000
Less: Shares subject to redemption
(18,975,978) (21,872,017)
6,024,022 6,877,983
 
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CAPITALIZATION
CAPITALIZATION
The following table sets forth our capitalization at June 30, 2021, and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of our 20,000,000 units in this offering for $202,000,000 (or $10.10 per Unit) and the sale of 5,666,667 private placement warrants for $8,500,000 (or $1.50 per warrant) and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities:
June 30, 2021
Actual
As Adjusted(2)
Promissory note to sponsor and accrued liabilities(1)
$ 522,038 $
Deferred underwriting commissions
7,000,000
Class A common stock, subject to redemption; 0 shares actual and 18,975,978 shares as adjusted(3)
191,657,375
Stockholders’ equity:
Preferred shares, $0.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized (actual and as adjusted); none issued or outstanding (actual and as adjusted)
Common stock, $0.0001 par value, 250,000,000 shares authorized (actual and adjusted)
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, 200,000,000 shares
authorized (actual and as adjusted); no shares issued and
outstanding (actual); 1,024,022 shares issued and
outstanding (excluding 18,975,978 shares subject to
redemption) (as adjusted)
102
Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, 50,000,000 shares authorized (actual and as adjusted); 5,750,000 issued and outstanding (actual) 5,000,000 issued and outstanding (as adjusted)(4)
575 500
Additional paid-in capital(5)
24,425 5,117,023
Accumulated deficit
(117,620) (117,620)
Total stockholders’ (deficit) equity
(92,620) 5,000,005
Total capitalization
$ 429,418 $ 203,657,380
(1)
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of June 30, 2021, we have borrowed $191,595 under the promissory note.
(2)
Assumes the full forfeiture of 750,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. The proceeds of the sale of such shares will not be deposited into the trust account, the shares will not be eligible for redemption from the trust account nor will they be eligible to vote upon the initial business combination. Excludes gross proceeds of  $65,000,000 from the sale of the forward purchase units that may close simultaneously with the closing of our initial business combination.
(3)
Upon the completion of our initial business combination, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), subject to the limitations described herein whereby our net tangible assets will be maintained at a minimum of  $5,000,001 following such redemptions, and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed business combination. The “as adjusted” amount of our common stock, subject to redemption equals the “as adjusted” total assets of  $203,657,380, less the “as adjusted” total liabilities of $7,000,000, less the “as adjusted” total stockholder’s equity of  $5,000,005. The value of Class A common stock that may be redeemed is equal to $10.10 per share (which is the assumed redemption price) multiplied by 18,975,978 shares of Class A common stock, which is the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock that may be redeemed for a $10.10 purchase price per share and still maintain at least $5,000,001 of net tangible assets.
(4)
Actual share amount is prior to any forfeiture of founder shares by our sponsor and as adjusted share amount assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
(5)
The “as adjusted” additional paid-in capital calculation is equal to the “as adjusted” total stockholder’s equity of  $5,000,005, minus Class A common stock (par value) of  $102, minus Class B common stock (par value) of  $500, plus the accumulated deficit of  $117,620.
 
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and forward purchase units, our shares, debt or a combination of cash, shares and debt.
The issuance of additional shares of our common stock or preferred stock in a business combination:

may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B common stock resulting in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock;

may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if shares of preferred stock are issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;

could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock is issued, which could result in the resignation or removal of our present directors and officers;

may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us;

may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants; and

may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
Similarly, if we issue debt or otherwise incur significant indebtedness, it could result in:

default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand;

our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;

our inability to pay dividends on our common stock;

using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;

increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and

limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
 
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, at June 30, 2021, we had no cash, a working capital deficit of  $522,038 and deferred offering costs of  $429,418. Further, we expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial business combination will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
Results of Operations and Known Trends or Future Events
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities since inception have been organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for this offering. Following this offering, we will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents after this offering. There has been no significant change in our financial or trading position and no material adverse change has occurred since the date of our audited financial statements. After this offering, we expect to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses. We expect our expenses to increase substantially after the closing of this offering.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our liquidity needs have been satisfied prior to the completion of this offering through receipt of $25,000 from the sale of the founder shares to our sponsor and up to $300,000 in loans from our sponsor under an unsecured promissory note. As of June 30, 2021, we have borrowed $191,595 under the promissory note. We estimate that the net proceeds from (1) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting offering expenses of approximately $750,000 and underwriting commissions of  $4,000,000, or $4,600,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full (excluding deferred underwriting commissions of  $7,000,000 (or up to $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full)), (2) the sale of the private placement warrants for a purchase price of  $8,500,000 and (3) the sale of the forward purchase units for $65,000,000 will be $268,750,000 (or $299,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of this amount, $202,000,000 or $232,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, including $7,000,000 (or up to $8,050,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting commissions will be deposited into the trust account. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries. The remaining $1,750,000 will not be held in the trust account. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of  $750,000 we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $750,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.
We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and excluding deferred underwriting commissions) plus the proceeds from the sale of the forward purchase units to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay taxes, if any. Delaware franchise tax is based on our authorized shares or on our assumed par and non-par capital, whichever yields a lower result. Under the authorized shares method, each share is taxed at a graduated rate based on the number of authorized shares with a maximum aggregate tax of  $200,000 per year. Under the assumed par value capital method, Delaware taxes each $1,000,000 of assumed par value capital at the rate of  $350; where assumed par value would be (1) our total gross assets following this offering, divided by (2) our total issued shares of common stock following this offering, multiplied by (3) the number of our authorized shares following this offering. Based on the number of shares of our common stock authorized and outstanding and our estimated total gross proceeds after the completion of this offering, our annual franchise tax obligation is expected to be capped at the maximum amount of annual franchise taxes payable by us as a Delaware corporation of  $200,000. Our annual income tax obligations will depend on the amount of interest and other income earned on the amounts held in the trust account. We expect the interest earned on the amount in the trust account will be sufficient to pay our taxes. We expect the only taxes
 
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
payable by us out of the funds in the trust account will be income and franchise taxes, if any. To the extent that shares of our common stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we will have available to us $1,750,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account. We will use these funds primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, structure, negotiate and complete a business combination, and to pay taxes to the extent the interest earned on the trust account is not sufficient to pay our taxes.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of  $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans, and such terms will be subject to the approval of our audit committee. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
We expect our primary liquidity requirements during that period to include approximately $600,000 for legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses in connection with any business combinations; $500,000 for director’s and officer’s insurance; approximately $150,000 for legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting requirements; approximately $240,000 for office space, administrative and support services; approximately $85,000 for Nasdaq continued listing fees; and approximately $175,000 for general working capital that will be used for miscellaneous expenses and reserves net of estimated interest income.
These amounts are estimates and may differ materially from our actual expenses. In addition, we could use a portion of the funds not being placed in trust to pay commitment fees for financing, fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business or as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into an agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business, the amount that would be used as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision would be determined based on the terms of the specific business combination and the amount of our available funds at the time. Our forfeiture of such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise) could result in our not having sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conducting due diligence with respect to, prospective target businesses.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination.
 
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Controls and Procedures
We are not currently required to report and evaluate on our system of internal controls as defined by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will be required to comply with the internal control reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement.
Prior to the closing of this offering, we have not completed an assessment, nor has our independent registered public accounting firm tested our systems, of internal controls. We expect to assess the internal controls of our target business or businesses prior to the completion of our initial business combination and, if necessary, to implement and test additional controls as we may determine are necessary in order to state that we maintain an effective system of internal controls. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding the adequacy of internal controls. Many small and mid-sized target businesses we may consider for our initial business combination may have internal controls that need improvement in areas such as:

staffing for financial, accounting and external reporting areas, including segregation of duties;

reconciliation of accounts;

proper recording of expenses and liabilities in the period to which they relate;

evidence of internal review and approval of accounting transactions;

documentation of processes, assumptions and conclusions underlying significant estimates; and

documentation of accounting policies and procedures.
Because it will take time, management involvement and perhaps outside resources to determine what internal control improvements are necessary for us to meet regulatory requirements and market expectations for our operation of a target business, we may incur significant expenses in meeting our public reporting responsibilities, particularly in the areas of designing, enhancing, or remediating internal and disclosure controls. Doing so effectively may also take longer than we expect, thus increasing our exposure to financial fraud or erroneous financing reporting.
Once our management’s report on internal controls is complete, we will retain our independent registered public accounting firm to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The independent registered public accounting firm may identify additional issues concerning a target business’s internal controls while performing their audit of internal control over financial reporting.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
The net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be invested in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
Related Party Transactions
In March 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash used to purchase such shares by the number of founder shares issued. Our initial stockholders will collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). If we increase or decrease the size of this
 
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
offering, we will effect a stock dividend or share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Up to 750,000 founder shares are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.
We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will also pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of  $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, the Administrative Services Agreement will terminate, and we will cease paying these monthly fees.
Our audit committee will review and approve all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, directors, officers or our or any of their respective affiliates, which may include reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of June 30, 2021, we have borrowed $191,195 under such promissory note. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 and the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $750,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of  $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans, and such terms will be subject to the approval of our audit committee. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
Our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 5,666,667 private placement warrants (or 6,266,667 private placement warrants if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) at a price of  $1.50 per warrant ($8,500,000 in the aggregate, or $9,400,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of  $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering except that: (1) they will not be redeemable by us; (2) they (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) they (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights.
We will enter into a forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates, pursuant to which such affiliates will commit that they will purchase from us up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units, consisting of one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase shares”) and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase warrants”), for $10.00 per unit, or an aggregate amount of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with
 
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available to us from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained by us in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, each Sponsor Affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval, prior to our entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, of its investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement. The forward purchase shares will be identical to the Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will be subject to transfer restrictions and registration rights, as described herein. The forward purchase warrants will have the same terms as the private placement warrants.
The forward purchase agreement also provides that the Sponsor Affiliates are entitled to certain registration rights with respect to their forward purchase units, including the Class A common stock underlying their forward purchase warrants
The proceeds from the sale of the forward purchase units may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination, expenses in connection with our initial business combination or for working capital in the post-transaction company. These purchases will be required to be made regardless of whether any shares of Class A common stock are redeemed by our public shareholders in connection with our initial business combination and are intended to provide us with a minimum funding level for our initial business combination.
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement that we will enter into with our initial stockholders on or prior to the closing of this offering, we may be required to register certain securities for sale under the Securities Act. These holders, and holders of warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if any, are entitled under the registration rights agreement to make up to three demands that we register certain of our securities held by them for sale under the Securities Act and to have the securities covered thereby registered for resale pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders have the right to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not be required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until the securities covered thereby are released from their lock-up restrictions, as described herein. We will bear the costs and expenses of filing any such registration statements. See “Principal Stockholders—Registration Rights.”
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations; Quarterly Results
As of June 30, 2021, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K and did not have any commitments or contractual obligations. No unaudited quarterly operating data is included in this prospectus as we have conducted no operations to date.
JOBS Act
On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an
 
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
“emerging growth company,” we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things: (1) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; (2) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; (3) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis); and (4) disclose certain executive compensation-related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of this offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
 
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PROPOSED BUSINESS
This summary only highlights the more detailed information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. As this is a summary, it does not contain all of the information that you should consider in making an investment decision. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the information under “Risk Factors” and our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before investing.
General
ExcelFin Acquisition Corp. is a newly incorporated blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Neither we, nor anyone on our behalf, has selected any business combination target or initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us.
We intend to focus our search on a U.S. domiciled Financial Technology (“FinTech”) company and will leverage our deep domain expertise, investing track record, and extensive networks in order to pursue a business combination with a high-quality growth-oriented company in the FinTech business-to-business (“B2B”) software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) sector. Our thesis-driven approach, disciplined investment criteria, and proprietary due diligence methodology, refined through our affiliate’s venture and late-stage growth investment platforms, will enable us to identify and evaluate prospective target partner businesses, and we expect to leverage our deep investment structuring and transaction experience to effectively negotiate and complete a business combination. Post-business combination, we plan to utilize our operating playbook to accelerate growth, improve operating metrics, and drive meaningful shareholder value.
Our Company
Our company is led by Logan Allin, our Chief Executive Officer, and Jennifer Hill, our Chairman of the Board. We are affiliated with Fin Venture Capital (“Fin VC”) and Grand Fortune Capital, LLC (“GFC”) (each a “Sponsor Affiliate”). Fin VC, founded by Mr. Allin in 2018, is a leading FinTech-focused venture and growth equity firm with a portfolio of 22 FinTech companies including unicorns such as SoFi, Greenlight, Unqork, DailyPay, Tradeshift, Figure and Pipe:

SoFi (NYSE: IPOE) is one of the leading consumer US FinTechs with full stack product offerings across lending, banking, wealth management, digital assets, and insurance. SoFi acquired Galileo in 2020, providing a vertically integrated platform to support embedded banking and payments. Other investors include QIA, Silver Lake, Softbank, DCM, ThirdPoint, IVP, GIC, and Baseline.

Greenlight is the leading FinTech platform in family finance, providing a platform for parents and their kids for checking, savings, debit, and investments. The platform is offered B2C and B2B2C through distribution partnerships with leading retail banks such as JPMorgan Chase. Other investors include Canapi Ventures, TTV, BOND, DST, Goodwater, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Amazon, Truist, NEA, Social Capital, Ally, and Synchrony.

Unqork is a platform solving for Development Operations (“DevOps”) and movement to the cloud for the financial services and insurance industries. Unqork is a no-code enterprise application platform that helps large companies build, deploy, and manage complex applications without writing a single line of code—a critical solution for legacy corporates, particularly in financial services and insurance. The company enables enterprises to accelerate DevOps, cloud migration, proprietary application and integration framework development faster, with higher quality, and lower upfront/ongoing costs than conventional approaches. Other investors include Blackrock, Blackstone, CapitalG, Advent, and HP.

DailyPay is modernizing payroll through a platform bridging legacy payroll, time management, and HR systems to enable employers to deliver financial services to their employees, with short term lending being the starting point to a more comprehensive product roadmap. DailyPay is generating a double bottom line impact by combating the punitive pay-day lending business and offering hourly workers,
 
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PROPOSED BUSINESS
freelancers, and independent workers an alternative to taking advances on future earnings—reducing financial stress, turnover and costs to both employees/employers. Other investors include Proof VC, RPM Ventures, First Ascent, and Inspiration.

Tradeshift is the world’s largest, open, digital commerce platform, providing SaaS supply chain solutions and enabling enterprises to connect, transact and collaborate with all of their business partners—including payments, lending, and marketplace activities. Other investors include Goldman Sachs, PSP, GP Bullhound, HSBC, CreditEase, AmEx Ventures, PayPal Ventures, DCVC, and Wipro.

Figure has built a financial services business that sits on top of a blockchain platform, Provenance, that enables digital lending, asset management, and an ecosystem of services to lenders, banks, credit investors, and secondary players. Figure is one of the first enterprise blockchain innovators at scale, leveraging the blockchain technology and tokenization to facilitate ABS, fund admin, private company cap table admin/secondary liquidity, and other use cases. Other investors include Morgan Creek, DCM, Ribbit Capital, Mithril, Credit Suisse, CreditEase, Noah Holdings and Baseline.

Pipe is transforming the fundamental economics of the global SaaS market. The company provides instant cash advances to recurring revenue companies, enabling them to unlock their deferred cash flows through non-dilutive funding. Pipe’s advanced application programming interface (“API”) financing platform automates the entire financing process for SaaS companies and delivers account level visibility and instant liquidity without the need to take on any debt or dilution. Other investors include Craft, Anthemis, Fika, Uncorrelated, and KSD Capital.
Fin VC’s employees have accumulated decades of investing, company building, and deal execution experience among them.
We believe we possess the following competitive strengths that differentiate us as we seek to complete a business combination:

Executive Management, and broader team of operating and investment professionals with deep industry expertise and credibility;

Disciplined investment parameters and operating playbook focused on B2B FinTech SaaS that differentiates ExcelFin from generalist special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) and the rest of the market;

Large deal sourcing network and deep relationships with founders and investors;

Decades of M&A, origination and execution experience; and

Sponsor and executive management team with current and prior SPAC experience.
Executive Management
In addition to Mr. Allin and Ms. Hill, our management team includes Ren Riley, an Investment Partner at Fin VC, who will serve as our COO, Joe Ragan, CFO for the Paper Excellence group, who will serve as our CFO and Brian Sun, Managing Director at GFC, who will serve as our Executive Vice President. Messrs. Allin, Riley, Ragan and Sun will serve together as our executive leadership group (collectively, our “Executive Management”). Our Executive Management, supported by a much broader team made up of 6 professionals from our Sponsor Affiliates, are private investment, investment banking, and operations professionals with significant transaction and investing knowledge and experience. Messrs. Allin, Riley, and Ragan are each successful entrepreneurs and executives and have, individually, through their firms and corporations, helped a large number of companies create value for their shareholders and owners.
Jennifer Hill has served as our Chairman of the Board since April 2021. Ms. Hill is an experienced board member across the financial services industry, currently serving as a Board Member at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, Strategic Advisor at Talos Trading, Non-Executive Director at Santander Asset Management, Board Member at Melqart Asset Management and Board Member at La Crosse Milling Company. Ms. Hill is the Founder and CEO of Murphy Hill Consulting, where she works with start ups in the fin tech space on organization and capital raising. Prior to her current positions, Ms. Hill served as CFO of Merrill Lynch & Co. from 2012 to 2014. Ms. Hill has also worked as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs
 
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from 1996 to 2006 and Vice President in the Financial Institutions Group at Citi from 1993 to 1996. Ms. Hill received her B.A. from Hamilton College and M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Logan Allin has served as our CEO and director since March 2021. Mr. Allin is Founder and Managing General Partner at Fin VC where he is responsible for management of the firm, sourcing/consummating investments, maintaining board responsibilities, and operating value at portfolio companies. Prior to founding Fin VC in 2018, Mr. Allin was Vice President of SoFi Ventures, from 2017 to 2018, where he was tasked with investing in and working hands-on with FinTech companies, as well as running SoFi’s accelerator and corporate development efforts. Mr. Allin was formerly a Venture Partner at Light Street Capital, from 2016 to 2017, where he was responsible for IR as well as sourcing, diligence, and finalizing late-stage private TMT investments. Additionally, Mr. Allin was a Partner at Formation Group, from 2016 to 2017, focused on early-expansion stage cross-border TMT investments in the US and Asia. Mr. Allin served as VP of Business Development, CFO and CIO of ONEHOPE Wine from 2013 to 2016. Mr. Allin has spent the vast majority of his career in FinTech, most recently as Head of Management Strategy, overseeing the enterprise FinTech strategy and execution, while serving as a member of the Operating Committee at Atlantic Trust, the Private Wealth Management arm of Invesco (and now CIBC) from 2010 to 2012. Previously, Mr. Allin was a Senior Vice President in City National Bank’s wealth management division (now part of RBC) where he led the technology strategy, open product architecture platform, and other strategic initiatives from 2009 to 2010. Mr. Allin spent much of his career in management consulting, in leadership positions at Capgemini, EMC, and PwC, focused exclusively on the intersection of Financial Services and technology. Mr. Allin earned B.A. in Public Policy and Political Science from Duke University and a M.S. in Management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow.
Ren Riley has served as our COO since March 2021. Mr. Riley is an Investment Partner at Fin VC where he is focused on sourcing and executing primary and co-investment opportunities and adding value to our portfolio companies. He brings 25 years of experience in the financial services sector and has been an active participant and investor in the venture capital industry for over 20 years. In 2019, Mr. Riley co-founded Enclave Liquidity Partners, a provider of liquidity solutions to founders, executives, and key shareholders of late-stage private growth companies. Prior to Enclave, Mr. Riley was a Partner at Robertson Stephens, from 2015 to 2019, an RIA providing wealth management services for high-net-worth individuals and family offices. Positions during his tenure at the firm also included CEO and Head of Alternatives. Prior to Robertson Stephens, Mr. Riley spent 16 years with Oak Investment Partners, from 1999 to 2015, where he became a General Partner in 2006. His primary focus was on emerging growth, multi-stage investments in the Internet, mobile, FinTech and enterprise software and services sectors, around the globe. Mr. Riley is still a Venture Partner at Oak and has served on the Boards of many Oak companies. Mr. Riley also serves on the Board for Thayer Ventures Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq—​TVACU). He began his career working in the corporate finance division of the original Robertson Stephens, a technology-focused investment bank based in San Francisco, where he was a Senior Associate. Mr. Riley holds a B.A. in Government from Dartmouth College.
Joe Ragan has served as our CFO since March 2021. Mr. Ragan is currently serving as the Chief Financial Officer for the Paper Excellence group. Mr. Ragan also serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors for Sports Ventures Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq—AKICU). Previously, from 2018 to 2019, Mr. Ragan served as Chief Financial Officer for Resideo/Honeywell Homes, a leading global manufacturer of thermostats and security panels (NYSE—REZI). From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Ragan also served as Chief Financial Officer for Ferroglobe PLC (Nasdaq—GSM), the leading global manufacturer of metal alloys and other metallic products that was created through a merger of FerroAtlántica and Globe Specialty Metals. From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Ragan previously served as CFO at Boart Longyear (ASX—​BLY), a publicly traded mining and manufacturing company, and UNICOM Government, Inc., previously known as GTSI, a publicly traded government contractor (Nasdaq—GTSI). Mr. Ragan holds an M.S. in Accounting from George Mason University and a B.S. in Accounting from The University of the State of New York. Mr. Ragan began his finance career with Deloitte, and was a licensed CPA in the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1990 to 2015. Mr. Ragan also serves as the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors for the nonprofit USA Judo.
Brian Sun has served as our Executive VP since March 2021. Mr. Sun is currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Global Strategy and M&A for Paper Excellence and as the Managing Director for GFC,
 
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a global investment firm and family office for Jackson Widjaja, where he manages GFC’s investment efforts in North America. Prior to GFC, Mr. Sun was in corporate development executive roles with SGS North America, AES Corp and Fosun Wealth Group sourcing and executing M&A transactions in business services, financial service, FinTech, technology and power sectors. From 2012 to 2017, Mr. Sun was a M&A advisory investment banker at Lazard and at China Merchants Bank US. From 2004 to 2010, he has worked at private equity firm Arcapita, leading aircraft investment group Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management, financial service company Jackson Hewitt and Barclays Capital in various corporate finance and investment roles. Mr. Sun has over 20 years of corporate finance and transactional experience and has worked on over $50 billion sales, acquisitions and investments transactions. Mr. Sun has a M.B.A. from Duke University and a B.A. from Beijing Foreign Studies University. He was a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 2008.
Goh Lin Piao will serve as a director immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Goh is currently serving as Senior Advisor to GFC, a global investment firm and family office for Jackson Widjaja. Mr. Goh has been at the nexus of Application Software, Digital Technologies, Business Transformation and the Internet for the past 30 years. Mr. Goh was in Accenture from 1990 to 2005 in a variety of roles including Managing Partner of Accentures’ Greater China Public Sector. In Accenture he helped large corporations and governments harness application software and digital technologies to speed their business transformation. From 2006 to 2016, Mr. Goh was at the RGE Group and had various leadership roles including Head of Business Transformation and Group Executive Director at RGE’s Specialty Pulp & Viscose business. Mr. Goh graduated from the University of New South Wales, Australia, with a degree in Computer Science and top honors in Mechanical Engineering.
Independent Directors
Gary Meltzer will serve as an independent director immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Meltzer currently serves as an advisor to early-stage companies. Prior to September 30, 2020, he was a partner at PwC where he most recently served as the Managing Partner responsible for PwC’s Bay Area and Northwest Market and served as a global relationship partner to Fortune 500 financial services and technology companies. He also led PwC’s FinTech practice, where he provided services to companies in the payments, digital banking, peer-to-peer lending, InsurTech, PropTech, digital assets and asset and wealth management spaces. Prior to his latest positions at PwC, Mr. Meltzer was PwC’s Financial Services Regulatory Leader from 2008 to 2011 and the Asset and Wealth Management Sector Leader from 2010 to 2016, where he was responsible for advising banks, asset managers, wealth managers, private equity funds, hedge funds, venture capital firms and FinTech companies. Mr. Meltzer has a B.S. in Accounting from Binghamton University and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New York and California. Mr. Meltzer also serves on the Leadership Council for Tipping Point Community and as an Advisory Board Member of Binghamton University School of Management. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Bay Area Council, where he chaired the Committee on Homelessness.
Neil Wolfson will serve as an independent director immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Wolfson is currently serving as an Active Board Member and Venture Investor for a number of FinTech and Financial Services companies, including IOU Financial, SALT Blockchain, Nextivity and Finitive. Prior to his current Board positions, Mr. Wolfson was the President and CIO of SF Capital Group from 2009 to 2018, where he oversaw all debt and equity investing, asset allocation, investment management, tax and estate planning. Mr. Wolfson served as a director and Chair of the Audit Committee of OnDeck Capital from 2014 to 2020. From 2004 to 2008, Mr. Wolfson served as the President and CIO of Wilmington Trust, an asset manager that oversees over $40 billion in assets, and as the President, CEO and Chairman of the Wilmington Funds, a $10 billion mutual fund family. Prior to working at Wilmington Trust, Mr. Wolfson served as National Partner in Charge at KPMG, where he worked from 1996 to 2004, and as an Associate Director at Bear Stearns, where he worked from 1995 to 1996. Mr. Wolfson received his B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from New York University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.
Board Advisors
Alka Gupta will serve as our advisor immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Ms. Gupta is a Venture Partner at Fin Venture Capital, a fund focused on global fintech with focus on B2B Enterprise
 
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SaaS. She is also Co-Founder, President and Board Director at GlobaliD, a venture backed, portable, and interoperable identity platform leveraging the blockchain. As President, she built the team, product, and signed the first digital wallet customers. Prior thereto, from 2010 to 2015, she was at eBay/PayPal as head of strategy for eBay Marketplaces where she led strategy development for fulfillment, expanded payment systems, cross border transactions, omni-channel retail, and key Asian (Japan, India) and select Latin American (Brazil) markets. Previously, from 2006 to 2009 Alka was with Retrevo (Acq. BN), a vertical specific e-commerce business, as VP of Business Development, bringing in the first revenue. At Lycos (Nasdaq: LCOS; Acq.: TEF) from 1998 to 2005, Alka first led as GM of a global suite of products and then as VP Corp Development and Strategy. She earned an MBA from The Wharton School and B.S. (cum laude) from Case Western Reserve University. Alka serves as a Board Director at MoneyGram (Nasdaq: MGI), GlobaliD, Digital Frontiers, and Flaist, Finance and Audit Committee for Menlo Park City School, and is a Limited Partner at Chestnut Ventures. She is an Advisor to Berkeley’s SkyDeck Accelerator and Venture Lab at the Wharton School and a frequent speaker on topics such as digital transformation, fintech, and blockchain, including at University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania. Alka was also an early Charter Member and the Chair of Mentoring Program at TiE and early Advisory Board Member Women 2.0.
Brady Dougan will serve as our advisor immediately upon the effective date of this prospectus. Mr. Dougan is currently serving as CEO of Exos TFP Holdings LLC. Mr. Dougan has more than 30 years in the financial services industry, including 24 years at Credit Suisse and eight of those years as CEO. From 1983-1991, Mr. Dougan was part of a team that built Bankers Trust into a derivatives leader. From 1991-1995, he held various roles at Credit Suisse, helping to found and create Credit Suisse Financial Products. From 1996-2001 he served as Global Head of Equities and Investment Banking and was responsible for supervising and overseeing all equities, derivatives, and cash sales and trading, capital markets, and equities research businesses. In 2002-2004 he was Co President, Global Institutional Services adding fixed income sales, trading and research (including rates, credit, emerging markets and securitized products) to his suite of responsibilities and successfully managed the business through the crisis. From 2004-2007, Mr. Dougan was CEO of the Global Investment Bank. Mr. Dougan also served as a Director on the Executive Board of Directors of the U.S. broker-dealer from October 1999 until mid- 2004. From June 2004 to mid-2007, Mr. Dougan served as CEO of Investment Banking and acting CEO Credit Suisse Americas when he served as CEO of the U.S. broker-dealer. In 2007, Mr. Dougan was appointed CEO of Credit Suisse Group where he remained until his departure from the firm in June 2015.
Competitive Advantages
We believe ExcelFin’s core competitive advantage lies in its Executive Management team and Affiliated Organizations, Fin VC and GFC. Fin VC was founded in 2018 by leading entrepreneurs and investors who have built, invested in, and successfully scaled growing FinTech companies on a global basis. Fin VC serves as a steward for transformative FinTech companies from seed to realization, driving consistent returns and building a strong reputation and legacy in the financial services and venture capital industries. Since its founding, Fin VC has built a modern asset management platform specialized in greenfield areas of global FinTech. Fin VC is a signatory investment manager to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment and incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG), socially responsible investing, and diversity considerations into its investment process. ExcelFin will employ a tested operating playbook, used by Fin VC, to provide meaningful growth acceleration via its extensive expertise and resources, including: capital formation (equity and credit), product roadmap strategy development, tech stack scale planning, go-to-market and brand/marketing approach, customers / partners business development, and talent sourcing. ExcelFin expects to leverage the following tools and processes, built by Fin VC, as competitive advantages in the market:

Domain Expertise.   Our Executive Management team has significant FinTech and technology sector experience built from decades of investing, operating and advising companies. ExcelFin will be further supported by the investment professionals, operators, advisors and other members of our Affiliated Organizations, each of whom provide significant additional experience and sector expertise. We believe that this collective experience and knowledge will help us to identify sector trends and to target the emerging companies within our focus sector that represent attractive business combination opportunities.
 
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Defined Investment Process.   We intend to leverage Fin VC’s investing experience, capabilities, and proprietary due diligence structure, and couple it with the analytical rigor that Mr. Ragan and GFC bring to their assessment of companies and markets through decades of experience closing complex transactions.

Differentiated Sourcing Approach.   ExcelFin will take a proactive sourcing approach to finding the most optimal target to consummate its business combination with. Our proactive sourcing approach will consist of the following components:

Entrepreneurial Network.   All of our team members have a strong foundation of global entrepreneurial and venture capital investing experience across company lifecycle stages. As such, the primary source of prospective companies will be sourced through regular conversations with entrepreneurs we have worked with, and entrepreneurs of companies that Fin VC and GFC have invested in. Due to Fin VC’s high Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 95% (as of 3Q ’20) and growing brand equity for being value-added investors, we expect referrals to grow exponentially and be a key advantage for ExcelFin during the target identification phase.

FinTech Ecosystems.   Fin VC has cultivated relationships with the key “FinTech ecosystems” globally that have formed around FinTech companies such as SoFi, Stripe, Affirm, PayPal, Square, Klarna, Adyen, and N26. We believe that companies that have spun out of similar leading players are strong candidates and that we will have differentiated access to due to our existing and long-term relationships with management and key team members through Fin VC.

Upstream/Downstream Investors.   Through Fin VC, ExcelFin has strong relationships with peers in the FinTech community who will refer opportunities our way, including generalist venture capital firms who make FinTech investments, FinTech specialists, leading growth equity and buyout firms, and LP co investors. Fin VC typically holds monthly calls with many of these “upstream” and “downstream” investors to develop a collaborative deal-sharing approach, where this proactive approach makes for a far richer and clearer dialogue with peers. As a result, , we believe that ExcelFin will receive more streamlined referrals from peers post-offering.

Post-Business Combination Value Enhancement.   ExcelFin has an expansive network, built and cultivated by our affiliated organizations, that includes FinTech companies, financial services organizations, insurers/reinsurers, corporates, and channel partners. We plan on being hands-on and “in the trenches” post-business combination with the company’s CROs/sales team on a set of priority targets in providing C-level introductions and then supporting follow-up, back-channeling and the ultimate closing of a commercial agreements.

Product & Channel Strategy.   We will actively support the development and refinement of the go-to-market strategy, inclusive of the product delivery, organizational set-up, pricing model, and contracting process. As former entrepreneurs, our Executive Management team brings extensive product and engineering experience in a hands-on iterative approach.

Capital Formation.   We will advise the team to proactively raise equity/debt with other value-added investors as a further differentiator, saving the company substantial time and cost. Through our Affiliated Organizations, Fin VC and GFC, we will be able to utilize a deep network of financial and strategic investors to run streamlined capital raises processes.

Corporate Development.   We bring a track record and background of managing M&A processes, as investors and historically as asset managers and investment bankers. Collectively, the Executive Management team has overseen and driven 50+ exit processes and has built a network of corporate development officers and specialist investment bankers that can be leveraged during the De-SPAC process.

Commitment to ESG.   We believe ESG is an important driver in differentiating companies and driving long term social and corporate change. ExcelFin values diverse leaders, and embraces founders and executives who are women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community and from other under-represented communities.
Additionally, we believe our ability to complete an initial business combination will be enhanced by our forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates, pursuant to which such affiliates will commit to
 
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purchase up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units, consisting of one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase shares”) and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase warrants”), for $10.00 per unit, or an aggregate amount of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, each Sponsor Affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval, prior to our entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, of its investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement. The forward purchase shares will be identical to the Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will be subject to transfer restrictions and registration rights, as described herein. The forward purchase warrants will have the same terms as the private placement warrants.
Investment Criteria
We have developed the following investment criteria that we will use to screen for and evaluate target businesses. We will use these criteria in evaluating initial business combination opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria. We expect that no individual criterion will entirely determine a decision to pursue a particular opportunity. We intend to seek an initial business combination with a business that we believe exhibits the following characteristics:

B2B FinTech SaaS Focus.   We will seek to acquire a business with a B2B model, including the following FinTech sub-sectors:

Payments

Banking/Lending

Wealth/Asset Management

Capital Markets/Trading

Insurance/InsurTech

Enabling Technologies/Infrastructure

Robust Growth and Margin Profile.   We will seek to acquire a business that has grown consistently year-over-year, has a defensible recurring revenue model and sustainable gross margin profile.

Category Leader and Proven Product-Market Fit.   We will seek to acquire a business that has a sustainable competitive advantage within a target market as a result of differentiated technology, intellectual property, distribution capabilities, and other attributes that provide high barriers to entry.

Appropriate Valuation and Transaction Structure.   We will seek to acquire a business at an attractive valuation with mutual upside potential through the combination with our management team and value add. We believe the benefits of a SPAC structure, versus a traditional IPO, with a strong sponsor fit like ExcelFin will deliver accelerated long-term benefits to all stakeholders.

Global Business Development Opportunities.   We believe that a key driver of value enhancement will be centered around direct customer introductions and broader business development efforts through ExcelFin’s global network. We will support scale through regional and cross-border customer acquisition, channel partnerships, and global expansion, which will in turn drive revenue growth, margin improvement, and ultimately appreciate enterprise value.

Advantage from M&A, Capital Markets, and Operating Expertise as well as Fin VCs Network.   We will seek to acquire a business where the collective capabilities of our management team can be leveraged
 
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to tangibly improve the operations and create value. This may be achieved through constructive engagement with seasoned management teams with augmentation of the board and team to enhance performance. Additionally, we may seek to acquire a business that, in addition to organic growth, has the potential to grow through accretive M&A. We will partner with a company that understands the value of our network and expects to benefit from the experience of our management team and deep history of investing, advising, operating and leading successful companies in the FinTech space.

Public Company Readiness.   We will seek management and shareholders who aspire to have their company become a public entity to improve the long-term prospects for the business and shareholders. The benefits of transitioning from a private to a public entity may include a broader access to debt and equity providers, liquidity for employees/existing shareholders, potential acquisitions and expanded branding in the marketplace. ExcelFin’s direct experience successfully implementing its robust operating playbook in late-stage venture/growth equity and M&A/IPO experience will translate into meaningful results for the company.
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as on other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC.
Members of our board of directors will directly or indirectly own founder shares and private placement warrants following this offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Our sponsor and members of our board of directors acquired founder shares for approximately $0.004 per share and we are offering units at a price of  $10.00 per unit in this offering; as a result, our sponsor and members of our board of directors could make a substantial profit after the initial business combination even if public investors experience substantial losses and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. (See “Risk Factors—The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may significantly dilute the implied value of your public shares in the event we consummate an initial business combination, and our sponsor is likely to make a substantial profit on its investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our common stock to materially decline.” and “—Since our initial shareholders will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.”)
Initial Business Combination
We believe our ability to complete an initial business combination will be enhanced by our forward purchase agreement with the Sponsor Affiliates, pursuant to which such affiliates will commit to purchase up to 6,500,000 forward purchase units, consisting of one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase shares”) and one-third of one warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock (the “forward purchase warrants”), for $10.00 per unit, or an aggregate amount of up to $65,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, the Sponsor Affiliates may purchase less than 6,500,000 forward purchase units. In addition, each Sponsor Affiliate’s commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be subject to approval, prior to our entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, of its
 
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investment committee as well as customary closing conditions under the forward purchase agreement. The forward purchase shares will be identical to the Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will be subject to transfer restrictions and registration rights, as described herein. The forward purchase warrants will have the same terms as the private placement warrants.
The rules of Nasdaq require our initial business combination to occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity securities of a target business or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on Nasdaq for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net assets test.
Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets
We believe our management team’s significant operating and transaction experience and relationships with companies will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships around the world. This network has grown through the activities of our management team sourcing, acquiring, financing and selling businesses, our management team’s relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and the experience of our management team in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions.
In addition, members of our management team have developed contacts from serving on the boards of directors of several companies.
We believe this network provides our management team with a robust and consistent flow of acquisition opportunities that are proprietary. We believe that the network of contacts and relationships of our management team will provide us with important sources of acquisition opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources,
 
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including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core assets or divisions.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our initial stockholders, directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our initial stockholders, directors or officers, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, may engage independent advisors to assist with the evaluation and would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
We may pursue an acquisition opportunity jointly with one or more entities affiliated with FVC, GFC and/or one or more investors in funds managed by FVC. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. We refer to this potential future issuance, or a similar issuance to other specified purchasers, as a “specified future issuance” throughout this prospectus. The amount and other terms and conditions of any such specified future issuance would be determined at the time thereof. We are not obligated to make any specified future issuance and may determine not to do so. This is not an offer for any specified future issuance. Pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of our Class B common stock, any such specified future issuance (including the forward purchase shares) would result in an adjustment to the conversion ratio such that our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, would retain their aggregate percentage ownership at 20% of the sum of the total shares of all shares of common stock issued and outstanding upon completion of this offering plus all shares issued in the specified future issuance (including the forward purchase shares), unless the holders of a majority of the then-issued and outstanding Class B common stock agreed to waive such adjustment with respect to the specified future issuance at the time thereof. They may waive such specified future issuance due to (but not limited to) the following: (i) closing conditions which are part of the initial business combination; (ii) during negotiations with Class A common stockholders on structuring an initial business combination; (iii) during negotiations with parties providing financing which would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock; or (iv) as part of the Affiliated Joint Acquisition. We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any such specified future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. If such adjustment is not waived, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the specified future issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock.
For additional discussion relating to potential conflicts of interest relating to sourcing of potential business combination targets, please see “Management—Conflicts of Interest.”
Our executive offices are located at 473 Jackson St., Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94111 and our telephone number is [•].
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer target businesses an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their capital stock, shares or other equity securities in the target business for our shares or for a combination of our shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more certain and cost-effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. In a typical initial public offering, there are additional expenses incurred in marketing, road show and public reporting efforts that may not be present to t