Broadband company Starry to go public in nearly $ 1.7 billion PSPC deal, Telecom News, ET Telecom
Starry Inc said Thursday that it has agreed to go public through a merger with blank check company FirstMark Horizon Acquisition Corp in a deal that would value the broadband service provider at 1, $ 66 billion.
As part of the deal, Starry will secure $ 452 million in cash, including $ 130 million through a private investment in public capital, and a concurrent funding round from investors such as Fidelity Management & Research Company, Tiger Global. Management and affiliates of FirstMark Capital, among others.
The funds from the transaction will be used to expand and deploy Starry’s services across the United States and to pay off existing debt, the company said.
“We are planning to launch into other cities with this new capital that we are raising,†said co-founder and CEO Chet Kanojia.
The deal comes at a time when Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) mergers in the US capital market have slowed in recent months. Still, trading activity has set new records this year.
Starry predicts annual revenues of more than $ 1.1 billion in 2026. In 2020, the company’s revenue increased 187% to $ 13 million. The company expects to have more than 25 million homes covered by 2026, Kanojia said, up from 4.7 million homes in the second quarter of 2021.
FirstMark, a SPAC backed by New York-based venture capital firm FirstMark Capital, raised $ 360 million through an initial public offering in October last year.
The merged company will be listed on a national stock exchange under the symbol “STRY” after the merger, which is expected to be finalized by the first quarter of next year.
PSPCs are shell companies without commercial operations that are created with the intention of merging with a private entity at a later date with the aim of making it public, bypassing the traditional route of IPOs.
