Sep 23, 2020 - Economy

Peter Thiel joins the SPAC boom

Peter Thiel. Photo: Michael Cohen/Getty Images for the New York Times

Peter Thiel is involved in a new SPAC that on Wednesday filed for a $575 million IPO, becoming the latest Silicon Valley tech investor to ride Wall Street's hottest wave.

Why it matters: Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, is one of the few top Silicon Valley investors who have close ties to the Trump administration. He also sits on the board of Facebook.

The SPAC is called Bridgetown Holdings, and it will seek to buy a tech, financial services or media company in Southeast Asia.

Thiel Capital is one of its sponsors, alongside Pacific Century and Pine Bridge Investments.
Matt Danzeisen, Thiel's husband and head of private investments at Thiel Capital, is the SPAC's chairman. Its CEO is Pacific Century executive Daniel Wong, while Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI, former president of Y Combinator) is on the board.

Go deeper: Reid Hoffman, another PayPal alum, joined today's Axios Re:Cap podcast to discuss why so many tech investors have created SPACs:

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Peter Thiel joins the SPAC boom

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