Private plane operator Surf Air will go public through a merger with a blank-check company, the company said Wednesday.
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Surf Air, which operates with a membership model, will have a valuation of $1.42 billion through the merger with the SPAC Tuscan Holdings Corp. II. The deal will provide up to $467 million in gross cash proceeds, according to a statement from the company.
The company, which was founded in 2011 and is based in the Los Angeles area, has raised more than $113 million in venture and debt financing from investors including Base Ventures and Velos Partners, according to Crunchbase. Through the SPAC deal, Surf Air plans to “deploy the world’s largest fleet of hybrid electric aircraft on regional routes being serviced today and on additional routes in new markets,” the company reported.
Along with the SPAC news, Surf Air announced plans to acquire Southern Airways Corp., but didn’t disclose terms of the deal.
Market conditions related to inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical issues have made tech companies put their IPO and SPAC plans on pause.
Surf Air is among a small group of venture-backed companies to go public this year. Compared to the SPAC boom of last year, relatively few have announced plans to take the same path and even fewer have gone through a traditional IPO.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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