Acorns, a US-based investment and savings app developer backed by mass media group Comcast, payment services provider PayPal and e-commerce firm Rakuten, agreed a reverse takeover yesterday at a $2.2bn valuation.
The transaction is set to close in the latter of half of this year and will entail Acorns getting the spot on the Nasdaq Capital Market held by special purpose acquisition company Pioneer Merger Corp, which listed in a $350m initial public offering in January 2021.
Declaration Partners, Greycroft, Wellington Management, Senator Investment Group and TPG’s impact investing vehicle, The Rise Fund, are contributing to a private placement of undisclosed size to support the merger together with funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.
Founded in 2012, Acorns provides a mobile platform that helps users deposit their spare change into a savings account and automatically invested in a portfolio of index funds.
The company was valued at $860m when it closed a $105m series E round in early 2019 featuring Comcast subsidiaries Comcast Ventures and NBCUniversal as well as Bain Capital Ventures, BlackRock, DST Global, MSD Capital and Rise Fund.
Rise Fund had provided an undisclosed sum for Acorns in 2018 that followed a $70m series D round featuring Rakuten’s Fintech Fund and PayPal that closed the year before, lifting its overall funding to $102m.
Bain Capital Ventures supplied $35m to help complete the round, with the $30m first close having taken place in 2016 with participation from Capital Group, Nyca Partners, Point72 and Sound Ventures in addition to returning investors E.ventures and Greycroft.
Acorns’ earlier backers included Sound Ventures, Garland Capital and Math Venture Partners. Its chief executive, Noah Kerner, said: “Going public will help elevate our story, introduce many more people to the power of compounding and financial wellness and bring financial literacy to the mainstream.”
