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Ribbit Capital, a major investor in fintech startups including cryptocurrency and blockchain ventures, is seeking to raise $350 million for a “blank check” company that would make acquisitions.
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The special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Ribbit LEAP Ltd., filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday.
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As a SPAC, Ribbit Leap has no operating business – it was created to find and buy one. “We have not selected any business combination partner and we have not … initiated any substantive discussions with” any candidates yet, the prospectus notes.
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Unlike traditional publicly traded companies, where major acquisitions are subject to shareholder approval, a SPAC asks for wide latitude to make purchases (hence the term “blank check”).
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“Our shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our shareholders do not support such a combination,” warns the risk factors section of the Ribbit Leap prospectus.
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JPMorgan Chase is the sole bookrunner for the initial public offering (IPO) of stock.
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The underwriter has the option to issue as much as 15% more shares than planned, which would bring total proceeds to $402.5 million.
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The prospectus mentions cryptocurrency only twice in passing, in passages that describe Ribbit Capital’s range of investments, which also include companies in mainstream financial services and technology sectors.
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Ribbit Capital is a founding member of the Libra Association, the consortium set up last year by Facebook to develop a global digital currency (which later curtailed its ambitions to mainly issuing stablecoins tied to fiat).
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In the blockchain space, the investment firm led a seed round for Bobby Lee's Ballet crypto wallet startup in 2019. It has also invested in Coinbase, Revolut, Robinhood, Xapo, Chainalysis, Figure Technologies and CRB Group (parent company of crypto-friendly Cross River Bank).
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Former U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury Sigal Mandelkar, who spearheaded crypto-related sanctions efforts against individuals and warned crypto firms to comply with anti-money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) laws, joined Ribbit Capital as an advisor this year. She is named as a partner in Tuesday’s prospectus.
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Other Ribbit Capital portfolio companies include Affirm, Brex, Coalition, CreditKarma, MercadoLibre, Next Insurance, Nubank, Root, Sea Limited, Upgrade and Zillow.