After a few years of slowdown, 2025 has marked a clear resurgence for special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). New issuance volumes and proceeds have risen sharply from the subdued levels of 2023–24, reflecting renewed investor confidence, stronger governance, and a more disciplined sponsor landscape. Unlike the speculative boom of 2020–21, this resurgence is driven by institutional capital, improved regulatory clarity, and a maturing ecosystem that is reshaping SPACs into a more sustainable and credible pathway to the public markets.
The SPAC market in 2025 has shown a clear rebound, with activity levels significantly higher than in the past few years. According to SPAC Insider, there were close to 100 SPAC IPOs on senior U.S. stock exchanges over the first three quarters of 2025, raising approximately $20,760 million in total gross proceeds. By contrast, in 2024 there were 57 SPAC IPOs which raised $9,672 million, and represented a 23% share of overall IPO proceeds. In 2023, issuance was especially low with only 31 SPACs and $3,888 million in proceeds raised.
These figures indicate that SPAC issuance has regained momentum, with capital steadily reentering the market and both sponsors and investors demonstrating renewed commitment to the structure.
The key question is why SPACs are making a comeback now. A combination of regulatory improvements, more experienced sponsors, and an evolving market structure has driven the renewed issuance momentum.
The recovery of SPAC issuance in 2025 is not a mere cyclical rebound, it is a reinvention led by seasoned sponsors and institutional investors. Following the overheated boom of 2020–21, the market experienced sharp contraction amid regulatory scrutiny, weak de-SPAC performance, and rising interest rates. Most sponsors paused, and issuance virtually froze in 2023.
However, this year experienced sponsors have returned with refined structures, institutional anchor investors, and disciplined target pipelines. According to SPAC Insider, the first quarter of 2025 saw serial sponsors account for 78% of all new SPAC IPOs, rising to 80% in Q2 as established teams relaunched vehicles with stronger governance and underwriting support. By Q3, the mix began to diversify as successful transactions and post-combination trading above trust value encouraged new entrants, particularly in crypto-adjacent and technologydriven sectors. Even so, serial sponsors still lead more than 60% of new deals, underscoring the institutional core of the market’s revival.
Regulatory evolution has been another essential pillar of the comeback. Following the 2021 boom-and-bust cycle, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finalized enhanced disclosure, forecasting, and governance rules for SPACs and their merger partners. Initially, this tougher stance sharply curtailed issuance. Over time, however, it brought much-needed clarity and standardization, restoring investor confidence.
Sponsors have also adapted by introducing more transparent redemption mechanics, clearer alignment of interests, and simplified unit structures. Many new SPACs include earn-out mechanisms, sponsor-promote tiers, and enhanced lock-ups to better align interests between founders, targets, and public investors. Furthermore, forecasting practices have become more conservative, PIPE commitments more robust, and audit standards tighter. The result is a “cleaner” ecosystem, one in which speculative deals and inexperienced sponsors are increasingly filtered out before launch. Investors now view SPACs as better governed and more predictable, supported by repeat sponsors who know how to navigate both regulatory and market expectations.
What truly distinguishes the 2025 wave of SPACs from previous cycles is structural innovation and thematic diversification. The year has seen a resurgence of specialized SPACs targeting sectors aligned with long-term technological and sustainability trends, including fintech, AI, clean energy, space technology, biotech, and infrastructure.
A particularly notable development is the emergence of digital-asset treasury SPACs, vehicles whose strategies explicitly allocate part of their capital to cryptocurrency or blockchain-based assets. These “crypto-linked” SPACs have drawn attention for providing a compliant, publicly listed format for exposure to the digital-asset ecosystem, at a time when institutional adoption of blockchain technology continues to expand.
Another example of the renewed thematic depth is in nuclear and clean-energy technology, where ventures such as Terra Innovatum have reportedly used SPAC structures to accelerate capital formation for next-generation energy projects. Such sectoral diversification and structural sophistication underscore that the current SPAC wave is being driven less by market excess and more by strategic fit and institutional design.
The SPAC resurgence in 2025 has been underway since the start of the year, well before the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut in September. The early momentum was fueled by a gradual improvement in market tone, moderating inflation, and growing confidence that the tightening cycle was nearing its end. Treasury yields began to stabilize in late 2024, volatility indices retreated to multi-year lows, and equity risk appetite steadily recovered. These dynamics reopened the issuance window across capital markets, particularly for alternative structures such as SPACs. As investors rotated back into growth and small-cap equities, SPACs benefited from renewed liquidity and a more constructive sentiment toward higher-beta opportunities.
The Fed started its monetary easing phase in September when lowered the target federal funds rate to 4.00%-4.25%. The rate-cut provided further boost to the market, rather than serving as the initial catalyst. By that point, SPAC issuance had already been trending higher for months, supported by investors positioning for eventual easing and a soft-landing macro narrative. The policy shift simply reinforced confidence and extended the window for new listings into the fourth quarter.
The resurgence of SPACs in 2025 is driven not only by increased sponsor and investor activity but also by renewed corporate interest in the de-SPAC pathway as a strategic alternative to the traditional IPO. Many growth-stage and sector-specific companies are recognizing that a SPAC combination offers distinct advantages, especially in an environment still marked by valuation sensitivity and selective investor demand.
One of the primary advantages of a de-SPAC transaction is the company’s control over its pricing. Unlike a traditional IPO, where a company must rely on book-building demand at pricing, a de-SPAC transaction enables a company to negotiate its valuation directly with the sponsor and PIPE investors. This approach provides greater predictability in the capital structure, which is particularly valuable in volatile equity markets. For many management teams, this negotiated certainty is preferable to the potential pricing fluctuations typical of an IPO.
Companies in high-growth or emerging sectors such as biotech, renewable energy, and fintech are increasingly choosing de-SPAC transactions. These industries often have earlierstage financial profiles and longer growth timelines, making it important to provide investors with insight into their future potential. In a traditional IPO, offering forward guidance is heavily restricted by the SEC, limiting the ability to provide investors with the insight necessary to understand long-term growth prospects. In contrast, the de-SPAC process allows companies to provide more cautious, yet crucial, forward-looking statements, which is particularly beneficial for sectors with longer development timelines and evolving business models.
Additionally, de-SPAC transactions offer companies the ability to partner with sponsors who bring deep industry-specific expertise. These sponsors not only provide capital but also operational guidance, governance structures, and valuable institutional relationships, which are often critical for companies in early stages or rapidly changing sectors. Traditional IPOs, on the other hand, may not offer the same level of tailored support and strategic partnership, making the de-SPAC route more attractive for companies that need more than just capital. They need expert guidance and a stable network to navigate the complexities of their respective industries.
Taken together, these factors explain why the SPAC model continues to appeal to a select but growing cohort of issuers. In 2025, de-SPACs are less about avoiding the rigor of the IPO process and more about engineering a tailored, negotiated, and partnership-driven entry into the public markets.
The 2025 resurgence of SPACs marks a structural turning point rather than a short-lived rebound. This year’s momentum has been driven by stronger sponsors, improved governance, and a more selective investor base, with issuance surpassing the combined total of the previous two years.
Looking ahead, the outlook remains constructive. Easing monetary policy, stabilizing equity markets, and sustained institutional participation should continue to support activity into 2026. Sponsors with credible track records and clearly defined sector strategies are likely to dominate new issuance, while investors focus on de-SPAC execution quality and post-merger performance.
The SPAC market has matured into a more disciplined and pragmatic segment of the capitalraising ecosystem. Its flexibility, negotiated pricing, and sponsor alignment now complement traditional IPOs rather than compete with them. ARC Group, with its extensive experience in cross-border capital markets and SPAC transactions, continues to support issuers and investors through this evolving market, helping structure efficient, compliant, and value-accretive deals. If the current trajectory holds, 2026 will consolidate SPACs’ role as a permanent, transparent, and professionally managed pathway to the public markets.
Author:
Patrik Kohary
Capital Markets Analyst
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