Today's Theranos Would Have Gone Public via a SPAC, or IPO, or Probably Would Have Just Stayed Private

Energy Vault Inc. is combining with a blank-check company to go public in a merger that values the gravity-based energy-storage company at roughly $1.6 billion, the companies said.

Energy Vault uses a block tower system to store and release renewable energy from wind and solar operations. Employing software to gauge when power demand is low, it uses surplus renewable energy to essentially store power by constructing the tower with a crane. When demand rises, the crane unstacks the tower, producing kinetic energy by dropping the blocks so that they can turn generators and create electricity.

Founded in 2017, the company aims to produce renewable energy even when the weather is cloudy or calm. That would help address the challenge of generating low-cost renewable power around the clock, one of the main hurdles to making clean energy more mainstream. Energy Vault says it can build its tower system in a cheap, sustainable way.

The special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that is taking the company public is Novus Capital Corp. II. (NXU: $9.69)

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Coinbase Global Inc. over a lending program the company plans to market and has indicated it would sue the company over the offering, Coinbase said Tuesday.

Coinbase co-founder and Chief Executive Brian Armstrong disclosed the dispute in a series of tweets late Tuesday. He called the SEC’s actions “sketchy” and “intimidation tactics behind closed doors,” and said other crypto companies are able to offer such programs.

Coinbase’s lending platform would allow customers holding a stablecoin called USD Coin…

…to earn interest by lending it to other traders. Stablecoins are crypto assets that are supposed to maintain a peg to national currencies, such as the dollar, and make it easier to swap from one crypto asset to another. Coinbase planned to eventually expand the program to include other cryptocurrencies.

The SEC indicated the activity would constitute a type of investment that needs to be registered with the government under investor-protection laws. Several state regulators, including in New Jersey, have accused other crypto lending platforms, including one offered by BlockFi Inc., of violating securities laws.

Jam City has raised $350 million in funding and has closed its purchase of mobile game publisher Ludia for $165 million.

The deal comes after Jam City scuttled its $1.2 billion plan to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) [DPCM Capital, Inc. (XPOA: $9.75)] because of changing conditions in the stock market. The $350 million consists of a combination of equity and debt financing.

Jam City CEO Chris DeWolfe said in an interview with GamesBeat that he was pleased with the outcome even though the company had to reset its original plans for acquiring Ludia from entertainment company Fremantle.

“We’ve had a very long standing relationship with Ludia, as well as their parent company, Fremantle, and both companies thought it was a great fit, which was very important,” DeWolfe said. “So we all hung in there. We began to develop our synergy plans over the time. The time definitely wasn’t wasted. We can hit the ground running now that it is fully closed.”

Ludia has a portfolio of mobile games that includes the Jurassic World games (Jurassic World: The Game, Jurassic World Alive) and upcoming DC and Disney titles. DeWolfe said the AR tech behind games like Jurassic World: Alive could prove useful for the combined company.

“We had engaged in the route of partnering up with a SPAC to go public and acquire Ludia with the a transaction that started probably close to a year ago with the notion that it was going to be very quick and allow us to make the acquisition as part of the fundraise,” DeWolfe said. “At the time, it was the best way until it wasn’t, and, so, as a company, you always have to choose the best capital structure that meets your needs.”