SPAC Redemption Rates
The canary in the SPAC coal mine. When shareholders redeem their trust shares instead of holding through the merger, it's a vote of no confidence — and by 2023, nearly everyone was heading for the exits.
💡 What Are Redemptions?
When you buy SPAC shares at IPO, your $10/share goes into a trust account. Before the merger vote, you can choose to redeem — get your $10+ back (with interest) instead of getting shares of the merged company.
Low redemptions (1-10%)mean investors believe in the deal. They're willing to bet their trust money on the target company.
High redemptions (80-97%) mean investors want out. They take their $10 back, leaving the SPAC with almost no cash to operate. Companies that close mergers with 90%+ redemptions are essentially starting life with no money.
SPACs Tracked
58
Avg Redemption
32.1%
Cash Redeemed
$6.1B
Highest Rate
97%
📈 Redemption Rate Trend by Year
Turning point. Redemptions rising (5-40%). Market getting saturated with 600+ SPAC IPOs.
Skepticism dominates. Redemptions 50-90%. Interest rates rising, SPAC failures mounting.
Golden era. Low redemptions (1-10%). Investors trusted SPAC sponsors and sector hype (EV, fintech).
Death spiral. Redemptions 85-97%. Most SPACs closing with almost no cash. Market essentially dead.
⚠️ Key Finding: Redemption rates skyrocketed from ~5% in 2020 to ~87% by 2023, reflecting total loss of confidence in SPACs. By 2023, most SPACs were closing with 90%+ redemptions, leaving companies with almost no cash.
Redemption Data — Sorted by Rate (Highest First)
| # | Company | Year | Trust Size | Redemption Rate | Cash Redeemed | Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BETR Better.com | 2023 | $690.0M | 97% | $669.0M | 2.1M shares |
| 2 | NIR Near Intelligence | 2023 | $175.0M | 96% | $168.0M | 0.7M shares |
| 3 | BNZI Banzai International | 2023 | $50.0M | 94% | $47.0M | 0.3M shares |
| 4 | QNGY Quanergy Systems | 2022 | $175.0M | 92% | $161.0M | 1.4M shares |
| 5 | SLAM Slam Corp | 2023 | $200.0M | 90% | $180.0M | 2.0M shares |
| 6 | GETR Getaround | 2022 | $345.0M | 88% | $303.6M | 4.1M shares |
| 7 | IRNT IronNet Cybersecurity | 2021 | $200.0M | 85% | $170.0M | 3.0M shares |
| 8 | BAER Bridger Aerospace | 2023 | $230.0M | 85% | $195.5M | 3.4M shares |
| 9 | DJT Trump Media | 2024 | $293.0M | 82% | $264.0M | 5.5M shares |
| 10 | FSRD Fast Radius | 2022 | $345.0M | 80% | $276.0M | 6.9M shares |
| 11 | GRND Grindr | 2022 | $288.0M | 78% | $224.0M | 6.3M shares |
| 12 | SATL Satellogic | 2022 | $250.0M | 75% | $187.5M | 6.2M shares |
| 13 | VFS VinFast | 2023 | $170.0M | 73% | $124.0M | 4.6M shares |
| 14 | MULN Mullen Automotive | 2021 | $46.0M | 70% | $32.0M | 1.4M shares |
| 15 | PSNY Polestar | 2022 | $800.0M | 65% | $520.0M | 28.0M shares |
| 16 | WE WeWork | 2021 | $483.0M | 60% | $290.0M | 19.2M shares |
| 17 | FFIE Faraday Future | 2021 | $230.0M | 55% | $127.0M | 10.3M shares |
| 18 | VORB Virgin Orbit | 2021 | $310.0M | 55% | $170.0M | 14.0M shares |
| 19 | ASTS AST SpaceMobile | 2021 | $230.0M | 42% | $96.6M | 13.3M shares |
| 20 | ENJY Enjoy Technology | 2021 | $265.0M | 40% | $106.0M | 15.9M shares |
| 21 | CZOO Cazoo | 2021 | $805.0M | 35% | $280.0M | 52.0M shares |
| 22 | EMBK Embark Technology | 2021 | $200.0M | 30% | $60.0M | 14.0M shares |
| 23 | RDW Redwire | 2021 | $150.0M | 25% | $37.5M | 11.2M shares |
| 24 | VLD Velo3D | 2021 | $345.0M | 22% | $75.9M | 27.0M shares |
| 25 | ASTR Astra Space | 2021 | $300.0M | 20% | $60.0M | 24.0M shares |
| 26 | BRDS Bird Global | 2021 | $310.0M | 18% | $56.0M | 25.4M shares |
| 27 | BODY Beachbody | 2021 | $300.0M | 15% | $45.0M | 25.5M shares |
| 28 | VLTA Volta Industries | 2021 | $345.0M | 15% | $51.8M | 29.3M shares |
| 29 | TALK Talkspace | 2021 | $460.0M | 14% | $64.0M | 39.6M shares |
| 30 | CLOV Clover Health | 2021 | $728.0M | 12% | $87.0M | 63.8M shares |
| 31 | RKLB Rocket Lab | 2021 | $470.0M | 12% | $56.0M | 41.4M shares |
| 32 | UP Wheels Up | 2021 | $510.0M | 12% | $61.2M | 44.9M shares |
| 33 | PTRA Proterra | 2021 | $345.0M | 10% | $34.5M | 31.0M shares |
| 34 | BLDE Blade Air Mobility | 2021 | $400.0M | 10% | $40.0M | 36.0M shares |
| 35 | SPCE Virgin Galactic | 2019 | $800.0M | 9% | $72.0M | 73.0M shares |
| 36 | HYLN Hyliion | 2020 | $345.0M | 8% | $27.6M | 32.0M shares |
| 37 | ME 23andMe | 2021 | $805.0M | 8% | $64.0M | 59.0M shares |
| 38 | ACHR Archer Aviation | 2021 | $500.0M | 8% | $40.0M | 46.0M shares |
| 39 | HIPO Hippo Holdings | 2021 | $460.0M | 8% | $36.8M | 42.3M shares |
| 40 | NKLA Nikola Corp | 2020 | $690.0M | 7% | $48.0M | 25.5M shares |
| 41 | MTTR Matterport | 2021 | $345.0M | 6% | $20.7M | 32.9M shares |
| 42 | APPH AppHarvest | 2021 | $375.0M | 6% | $22.5M | 35.7M shares |
| 43 | SOFI SoFi Technologies | 2021 | $805.0M | 5% | $40.0M | 64.0M shares |
| 44 | JOBY Joby Aviation | 2021 | $690.0M | 5% | $34.5M | 66.5M shares |
| 45 | GOEV Canoo | 2020 | $345.0M | 5% | $17.0M | 33.0M shares |
| 46 | LTCH Latch | 2021 | $450.0M | 5% | $22.5M | 42.8M shares |
| 47 | ELMS Electric Last Mile | 2021 | $379.0M | 4% | $15.0M | 36.0M shares |
| 48 | LCID Lucid Group | 2021 | $2.1B | 3% | $62.0M | 78.0M shares |
| 49 | PSFE Paysafe | 2021 | $2.0B | 3% | $60.0M | 116.0M shares |
| 50 | SKLZ Skillz | 2020 | $690.0M | 3% | $20.7M | 68.0M shares |
| 51 | BARK BARK Inc | 2021 | $200.0M | 3% | $6.0M | 19.4M shares |
| 52 | GRAB Grab Holdings | 2021 | $4.0B | 2% | $80.0M | 78.0M shares |
| 53 | RIDE Lordstown Motors | 2020 | $675.0M | 2% | $13.5M | 54.0M shares |
| 54 | LAZR Luminar | 2020 | $420.0M | 2% | $8.4M | 41.0M shares |
| 55 | DM Desktop Metal | 2020 | $575.0M | 2% | $11.5M | 56.8M shares |
| 56 | QS QuantumScape | 2020 | $720.0M | 1.5% | $10.8M | 55.0M shares |
| 57 | DKNG DraftKings | 2020 | $400.0M | 1% | $10.0M | 40.0M shares |
| 58 | OPEN Opendoor | 2020 | $600.0M | 1% | $6.0M | 59.4M shares |
🏆 Highest Redemption: BETR
Better.com — nearly every single shareholder fled.Near-total redemptions. Vishal Garg mass layoff scandal. Only $21M in trust remained.
✅ Lowest Redemption: DKNG
DraftKings — investors believed in this deal.Virtually no redemptions. Sports betting was hot sector.
🔍 Why Redemption Rates Matter
For Investors: High redemptions are a massive red flag. If 90% of trust shareholders want their money back, you probably should too.
For Companies: A SPAC that closes with 95% redemptions might have planned to receive $300M from the trust but only gets $15M. The company starts life cash-starved, often leading to immediate dilutive financing and rapid stock declines.
For the Market:The explosion in redemption rates from 2020 to 2023 perfectly tracks the death of the SPAC market. It went from "free money" to "everyone running for the exits."
📊 Methodology
Data Sources: SEC EDGAR 8-K filings (merger completion announcements), DEFM14A proxy statements (shareholder vote results), and XBRL data (TemporaryEquity tags for trust share counts).
Calculation: Redemption Rate = Shares Redeemed ÷ Total Trust Shares Outstanding. Cash Redeemed = Shares Redeemed × ~$10/share (plus trust interest).
Limitations: Some redemption rates are approximate based on share counts from public filings. Multi-step redemptions (some SPACs had multiple votes) are shown as the cumulative total.