Data intelligence firm Near to go public via $1 billion SPAC deal

Near Intelligence

19/05/2022 11:30

By Niket  Nishant and Manya Saini
    May 19 (Reuters) - Data intelligence firm Near has agreed to
go public through a merger with a blank-check vehicle in a deal
valuing it at about $1 billion, the companies said on Thursday. 
    Near, founded in 2012, offers data insights to companies
like Ford Motor Co  F.N , Dunkin Donuts, MetLife  MET.N  and
others. 
    The deal with KludeIn I Acquisition Corp  INKA.O  will fetch
$268 million in gross proceeds for Near, including a private
placement of $95 million. The company also said it has secured a
$100 million committed equity financing from CF Principal
Investments, an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald. 
    The merger comes at a challenging time for the special
purpose acquisition company (SPAC) market in the U.S. as
regulatory scrutiny tightens and amid high investor redemptions.
    Once Wall Street's hottest ticket, SPACs have also seen
souring sentiment due to market volatility and poor stock
performance of companies that merged with them. The De-SPAC
Index  .DESPACTR , which tracks some of these companies, is down
over 50% so far this year. 
    "The reason we chose SPAC was because it was the fastest,
most cost-effective and the least risky in the current market
for us," Founder and Chief Executive Officer Anil Mathews told
Reuters.
    The chief executive added he was not too concerned about the
impact of waning enthusiasm for SPACs, because Near is a
revenue-generating business "that we have built over a decade",
and has also won the backing of investors like Sequoia and
JPMorgan.
    SPACs are publicly listed companies that are raised with the
intention of merging with a private company, which goes public
through the merger.
    KludeIn I Acquisition is led by Narayan Ramachandran, former
chief executive of the Indian operations of Morgan Stanley
 MS.N . 
    After the deal closes, Pasadena, California-based Near will
be named "Near Intelligence Inc" and expects to trade on Nasdaq
under the ticker "NIR". 
    

 (Reporting by Manya Saini and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru;
Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
 ((Manya.Saini@thomsonreuters.com;))