Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin Investor Files For Giant $350 Million IPO For Possible Merger
As reported by Forbes, “The founder of early bitcoin venture capital firm Ribbit Capital has filed for a massive $350 million initial public offering. “While little is known about the company, called Ribbit LEAP, CEO Meyer ‘Micky’ Malta could use the increasingly popular ‘blank check’ structure to effect a merger, acquire assets, purchase stocks, or […]
As reported by Forbes, “The founder of early bitcoin venture capital firm Ribbit Capital has filed for a massive $350 million initial public offering.
“While little is known about the company, called Ribbit LEAP, CEO Meyer ‘Micky’ Malta could use the increasingly popular ‘blank check’ structure to effect a merger, acquire assets, purchase stocks, or reorganize a similar business, according to the SEC S-1 form filed today. To give an idea of the kinds of work Ribbit LEAP might do, the Cayman Islands-based company, short for Ribbit Capital Long-Term Equity Acquisition Pool, identifies its predecessor’s mission among the ‘guiding principles’ in the filing.
“Namely, the firm will pursue financial services similar to the $2.6 billion Ribbit Capital’s existing portfolio, including $8 billion cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, $11.2 billion Robinhood, and $1.2 billion Figure Technologies. This is just the latest in a series of recent filings to create similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), including Virgin Galactic SPCE -0.8% and Draft Kings to do a wide range of unspecified actions, but frequently to merge with another similar company…
“…Though the filing includes no details about how exactly Ribbit might use the public entity, a look at their past provides interesting insights. The Palo Alto, California-based firm was founded in 2012 to invest largely in financial technology startups. Since being an early investor in cryptocurrency’s first unicorn, Coinbase, Ribbit Capital has built a portfolio of over 75 private and public company investments including Brex Inc., CreditKarma, MercadoLibre, Inc. MELI +1% Robinhood Markets, and Zillow Group, Inc. Z -0.9% (NASDAQ NDAQ -1.1%:ZG). While many of the investments have crypto services, Xapo, a custody firm in-part acquired by Coinbase in August 2019, Multicoin Capital and FBG Capital are all focused almost exclusively on the space…”