2024
SPAC Market Year in Review
SPAC IPOs
57
Capital Raised
$9.7B
Avg Return
-48.0%
Bankruptcies
12
Market Context
2024 saw the SPAC market in a strange twilight. Issuance ticked up slightly to 58 deals as some sponsors tested the waters with better-structured vehicles, but the shadow of the boom's failures loomed large. Fisker's bankruptcy was the year's headline disaster — Henrik Fisker had previously bankrupted Fisker Automotive in 2013 and managed to do it again via SPAC. Trump Media's SPAC merger was a political spectacle but a financial oddity. The ongoing wave of bankruptcies from 2020-2021 vintage SPACs continued, with cumulative failures exceeding 40 companies.
Key Events
•Fisker files for bankruptcy — $8.4B peak valuation wiped out
•Trump Media (DJT) SPAC merger creates political meme stock
•Nikola's founder sentenced to 4 years for fraud
•Modest SPAC issuance recovery to 58 deals
•New SEC rules make SPAC formation more expensive
•Cumulative SPAC bankruptcies exceed 40
•Remaining SPAC zombies continue slow decline
Notable IPOs
↗ Trump Media (DJT)
↗ Minor SPAC activity resumes
Notable Failures
↘ Fisker bankruptcy ($8.4B peak)
↘ Nikola near-death
↘ Multiple 2021-vintage SPACs finally fail