Hong Kong’s DayDayCook heads to Nasdaq via merger with a blank cheque company, blazing a new fundraising trail for start-ups
- DayDayCook has agreed to merge with a Nasdaq-listed blank cheque company in a deal that values it at US$300 million
- The online recipe hub is the first Hong Kong start-up focusing on retail consumption to seek a US listing via a special purpose acquisition company
DayDayCook, a recipe hub founded by former HSBC banker-turned-online influencer Norma Chu, will merge with a New York-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), becoming the first Hong Kong start-up focusing on internet consumption to head for the capital markets via the so-called blank cheque route.
DayDayCook’s merger with Ace Global Business Acquisitions values the nine-year-old start-up with 80 million active users at US$300 million in enterprise value. The combined company is aiming to raise up to US$40 million from private-equity investors, Ace Global said in a press statement.
“The decision to list in the US is due to the better liquidity on US exchanges, and a broader investor base in the US,” Chu said in an interview with South China Morning Post. “A SPAC structure also gives us more certainty about the listing timetable.”
The merger opens a new path for companies to raise capital and fund their growth, giving a shot in the arm to the 14 Hong Kong-domiciled SPACs that have raised US$2.6 billion so far this year, data from Refinitiv shows. SPACs are takeover vehicles which typically lack any existing business at the point of their initial public offerings (IPOs). They are created purely to raise money to buy assets within a specified period of time, usually within two years of the their IPOs.
It still needs the SPAC investors to approve the deal. If they approve the transaction and no investor redeems their money from the bank cheque company and the fundraising target is reached, the total sum from the US listing for DayDayCook could reach US$87 million.
