Catcha Investment Joins the SPAC Craze in Asia

Jumping on the SPAC train, blank check company, Catcha Investment, started by Malaysia’s Catcha Group, has filed to raise up to US$250 million in an IPO. 

The move comes shortly after Catcha Group sold over 50% of its stake in Frontier Digital Ventures in a move to participate in the selling of short stocks. 

SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, have been around for a while, but are just not gaining popularity as a convenient and less risky alternative to traditional IPOs. Asian companies are just now starting to delve into it, following the U.S.’s influence when it comes to utilizing the SPAC way of raising money for a proposed IPO. 

Last September, the co-founder and former CEO of Zillow, Spencer Rascoff, co-started a SPAC called Supernova Partners Acquisition Company, Inc to invest in companies focused on large markets with great potential growth.