Voltus on canceled SPAC merger: It was mutual

Voltus last week canceled its SPAC merger with Broadscale Acquisition Corp., a deal that had valued Voltus at $1.3b. Axios reached out to Voltus with followup questions about the busted deal, and Kelly Yazdani, VP of marketing, responded.

Why it matters: Voltus, which connects distributed energy resources (DERs) with electricity markets, has described itself as the Airbnb of the electric grid.

• But even those lofty aspirations — and marquee customers like Coca-Cola and Home Depot — couldn't overcome a SPAC market that's all but ground to a halt.
• Voltus and Broadscale "mutually called off" the SPAC, Yazdani says.

How does Voltus plan to raise capital now that the SPAC is not moving forward?

• We are currently updating our financial and operating plan for the remainder of 2022 and 2023 and, depending on the results of that exercise, will determine how and when to capitalize the business.

With the SPAC now canceled, how does that impact Voltus' financial position and available cash going forward?

• All of our efforts are aimed at improving and growing our business, providing the most value to our customers and improving outcomes for all electricity consumers within wholesale power markets and beyond.
• The termination of the merger should not have a significant impact on our growth plans. Electricity markets still have an increasingly acute need for DERs, which are enabled by our platform.