(Bloomberg) — Payments provider Plastiq Inc. has agreed to go public via a merger with Joseph Sambuco’s blank-check firm.
Plastiq’s tie-up with Colonnade Acquisition Corp. II will create a company with a value of about $480 million, including debt, according to a statement Thursday.
Founded in 2012, Plastiq offers payments services to small and midsize businesses. The company, whose backers include Kleiner Perkins, B Capital Group and Khosla Ventures, is forecasting revenue of $75 million for this year.
Eliot Buchanan, Plastiq’s founder and chief executive officer, will continue to lead the company along with existing management.
Buchanan said in an interview that the firm had met Colonnade executives over a year ago when Plastiq was approached by several SPACs. Though Plastiq continued to stay private for the year to ride out the high valuation wave, Buchanan remained in talks with Sambuco.
“It’s not their first SPAC, which is helpful,” Buchanan said. “The other thing is just their belief and commitment to price the deal in the right way, and the right way doesn’t mean the most.”
Plastiq’s last disclosed valuation was in late 2019 at around $495 million. The company hopes to continue rolling out its software as a service products after going public, Buchanan said.
Colonnade Acquisition Corp. II listed in March 2021. The special purpose acquisition company is led by Sambuco, a former Lazard Ltd. real estate specialist who went on to found Colonnade Properties.
(Updates with CEO’s comments in fifth paragraph.)
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