SPACInsider

The past year has seen a raft of crypto treasury companies go public via SPACs. Could the next entrant be the one to consolidate the field? This week, we speak with Adam Back, CEO of Bitcoin Standard Treasury and Sean Bill, who serves as the company’s Chief Investment Officer. The two discuss their company’s $4 billion combination with Cantor Equity Partners I (NASDAQ:CEPO), announced last July. They discuss why the Cantor team was a good fit for their goals of bringing innovative Bitcoin-based financing structures to the market, and why they believe Bitcoin Standard Treasury’s deep experience with the currency presents unique advantages as it aims to set up a multiple lanes for yield generation. How do the company’s long-held Bitcoin reserves and its unique Bitcoin PIPE differentiate it from the other treasury plays, and what are the factors that unite the treasury companies that manage to consistently trade above NAV?

The work of maintaining and supplying the US armed forces is now front and center in the daily news, but Precision Aerospace & Defense has been long been carrying out a strategy to acquire critical manufacturers and suppliers in this area. Now, it is taking that platform to the public markets in a SPAC deal. This week, we speak with Brent Borden, CEO of Precision Aerospace & Defense Group and Adam Gishen, CEO of FACT II Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:FACT). The two announced a $310 million business combination last December. Brent explains how his company has selected with unique capabilities to build an EBITDA-positive network of subsidiaries that differs from traditional private equity roll-up plays. Adam explains how the company’s backlog provides significant visibility into its future revenue and how the FACT II team will continue to advising the company through its next wave of growth and beyond.  

SPACs have populated the public markets with a variety of quantum computing hardware technology companies, and now one is poised to list the first quantum software company. This week, we speak with Dr. Joe Fitzsimons, CEO of Horizon Quantum, and Harry You, Chairman of dMY Squared Technology Group, Inc (OTC:DMYY). The two announced a $546 million combination in September. Joe explains how Horizon is endeavoring to create the first universal operating system for quantum computers and why that presents both challenges and opportunities while these machines are still in the error correction phase. Harry gives his perspective on how the development of the quantum computing space could mimic the trajectory of classical computing and which layers of this emerging tech stack could offer the greatest upside to public investors at this early stage.

Maximilian Martin, CEO and co-founder of The Enhanced Games, outlines a competition that allows clinically approved performance enhancements. He discusses recruiting athletes, safety protocols and permitted substances. He also explains the startup approach to launching a new sport, venue and broadcast plans, plus plans to build consumer products from elite R&D.

Quantum computing companies have been among the highest performing de-SPAC sectors in years. And, SPACs have made a major impact on quantum computing by being the listing and financing mechanism for a large portion of the publicly traded cohort. But, the market wasn’t always so bullish on quantum. This week we return to a conversation we had with Alan Baratz, CEO of D-Wave (NYSE:QBTS) in February 2025. At the time, Quantum computing stocks had just begun their recent revival and Alan helped break down the ups and downs of the previous years as well as what had changed in the technology. He shares valuable advice from how D-Wave rolled with the punches in an unfavorable market after closing with DPCM Capital Inc. in 2022, and also how investors should interpret the news of technological advancements coming out the industry.  

This week, we speak with Xanadu founder and CEO Dr. Christian Weedbrook and Bill Fradin, CEO of Crane Harbor Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:CHAC). The two announced a $3.1 billion business combination in November. Is it possible to build a business model that combines features of Amazon Web Services, NVIDIA and a biotech drug developer? Well, Xanadu aims to find out, and it is funding that path via a SPAC. Christian explains how Xanadu differentiates itself from other players in the quantum computing space by focusing on specific hardware advantages as well as a software approach that allows its machines to work in conjunction with other quantum or traditional computers. Bill also explains the market has changed since the last wave of SPAC deals in quantum computing and how Xanadu matched the major proving points that Crane Harbor was looking for.  

Rick Hendrix (Live Oak V CEO) and Adam Fishman (Live Oak V CFO) bring SPAC capital-markets and valuation chops. Michael Brown (Teamshares CEO) runs a programmatic M&A platform buying EBITDA-positive small businesses. They discuss scaling repeatable acquisitions, diligence and software to cut costs, leverage and capital allocation, PIPE construction, valuation comps, and using public markets to access cheaper debt.

Asheesh Birla, CEO of Evernorth and seasoned crypto product executive, discusses building an XRP-focused crypto treasury. He outlines why XRP’s payment design and escrowed supply matter. Short sentences cover yield strategies, institutional DeFi on the XRP ledger, international opportunities in Korea and Japan, and why a focused treasury can accelerate adoption.

Roozbeh Charli, CEO of Einride — leader in electric, cabless autonomous freight vehicles. He discusses designing trucks without driver cabs, combining electrification with autonomy to speed commercialization, and using quantum computing for route optimization. He also covers pricing models, vehicle-agnostic autonomous software, and scaling deployments with large shippers.

In this episode, we examine how the SPAC market evolved in 2025 and what sponsors, issuers, and investors should be thinking about as the calendar turns to 2026. Joining the discussion are Ed Kovary, Head of Capital Markets at BTIG, and Jerry Serowik, Head of Capital Markets at Cohen & Company, two firms that were among the most active in the SPAC ecosystem in 2025. Drawing on firsthand experience, the conversation covers how deal structures, investor expectations, and sponsor strategies shifted over the course of the year and how capital markets conditions shaped issuance and deal execution. The episode concludes with a forward-looking discussion on what these trends imply for SPAC activity in 2026, including where opportunities may emerge and what risks remain for the asset class.