3 ms·

Embark, once a $5B SPAC, is shutting down

17 points by johntiger1 4y ago

monero-xmr 4y ago
Smart money AI devs switched from self driving vehicles to military defense and generative AI. Self driving tech is (at best) a feature like cruise control. Very limited niche otherwise given its extreme cost, limitations, and legal liability.
runlevel1 4y ago
Previous thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35050040 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35050040
MrBuddyCasino 4y ago
Is there a single example where in hindsight, a SPAC wasn’t a red flag?
- boeingUH60 4y ago
  DraftKings is the only successful one I know of. 99% of SPACs scream "bad business that I want to dump on clueless retail investors". I kid you not, there's a recent SPAC whose selling point is being "patriotic" [1]. 1- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230227005661/en/PublicSq.-a-Leading-Values-Aligned-Marketplace-to-Go-Public-via-Combination-with-Colombier-Acquisition-Corp.-NYSE-CLBR https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230227005661/en/Pub...
- panick21_ 4y ago
  RocketLab is a decent company, no red flags. But the same can't be said for many other of the space spacs.
- finfrastrcuture 4y ago
  As somewhat close to this, I can't think of one. I know a guy in the family office of a very wealthy celebrity. A the peak of SPAC hype he was listed as a director on at least 4 they created under the celebrity's name. I can't imagine the family office's strategy was anything more than using their owner's fame to lure in retail investors. None of them went on to generate anything of value for their investors.
dindresto 4y ago
Glad to see it's not https://www.embark-studios.com/ https://www.embark-studios.com/ that is shutting down... that was my first association with the name.
not_your_vase 4y ago
Interesting that just 3 months ago they were very confident about launching in 2024, despite the fact that their market cap was already smaller than their actual cash reserves: https://news.crunchbase.com/transportation/autonomous-driving-spac-embk/ https://news.crunchbase.com/transportation/autonomous-drivin...

17 points by johntiger1 4y ago

Smart money AI devs switched from self driving vehicles to military defense and generative AI. Self driving tech is (at best) a feature like cruise control. Very limited niche otherwise given its extreme cost, limitations, and legal liability.

runlevel1 4y ago

Previous thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35050040 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35050040

MrBuddyCasino 4y ago

Is there a single example where in hindsight, a SPAC wasn’t a red flag?

boeingUH60 4y ago
DraftKings is the only successful one I know of. 99% of SPACs scream "bad business that I want to dump on clueless retail investors". I kid you not, there's a recent SPAC whose selling point is being "patriotic" [1]. 1- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230227005661/en/PublicSq.-a-Leading-Values-Aligned-Marketplace-to-Go-Public-via-Combination-with-Colombier-Acquisition-Corp.-NYSE-CLBR https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230227005661/en/Pub...
panick21_ 4y ago
RocketLab is a decent company, no red flags. But the same can't be said for many other of the space spacs.
finfrastrcuture 4y ago
As somewhat close to this, I can't think of one. I know a guy in the family office of a very wealthy celebrity. A the peak of SPAC hype he was listed as a director on at least 4 they created under the celebrity's name. I can't imagine the family office's strategy was anything more than using their owner's fame to lure in retail investors. None of them went on to generate anything of value for their investors.

dindresto 4y ago

Glad to see it's not https://www.embark-studios.com/ https://www.embark-studios.com/ that is shutting down... that was my first association with the name.

not_your_vase 4y ago

Interesting that just 3 months ago they were very confident about launching in 2024, despite the fact that their market cap was already smaller than their actual cash reserves: https://news.crunchbase.com/transportation/autonomous-driving-spac-embk/ https://news.crunchbase.com/transportation/autonomous-drivin...