When we raised a SPAC (NYSE:$IPOA) two years ago, I discussed our intention of providing a new, transparent and flexible way for emerging technology companies to go public. 
Over this time, we identified hundreds of companies who could benefit from this approach, met with most of them, diligenced many of them and came close to picking some of them...as part of this process, in the early part of 2019, we started deep diligence with @virgingalactic.
@virgingalactic is the best of what a technology company is: a visionary, thoughtful founder in @richardbranson, a dedicated and passionate team led by @gtwhitesides and a product that captures many of our imaginations and dreams - going to space.
By July we negotiated and announced that our public company, $IPOA, would be merging with them and, as a result, take @virgingalactic public (this is how a SPAC works).
Our merger closed Friday and starting today, our ticker changed from $IPOA to $SPCE where we became the only publicly traded human space flight company in the world.
In terms of cash, we delivered $671M in both primary and secondary proceeds.
In terms of size, this represents the 11th biggest IPO of 2019.
In terms of holders, we had almost 20x the number of holders of the stock, giving many more people a chance to participate.
In terms of size, this represents the 11th biggest IPO of 2019.
In terms of holders, we had almost 20x the number of holders of the stock, giving many more people a chance to participate.
In terms of mechanics, because this was a merger vs a traditional IPO, we used an S-4 process vs S-1 which made things more streamlined, and allowed management to focus on running the company versus running an IPO process.
Thanks to everyone involved but especially to our Lead Independent Director, @adambain, our bankers at Credit Suisse and Connaught and our lead counsel at Skadden.
Onwards...🚀🚀🚀
Onwards...🚀🚀🚀
