Mobile Commerce Platform Rezolve Merges With Armada in $2B SPAC Deal to Go Public

Mobile commerce platform Rezolve is merging with the blank check company Armada Acquisition Corp. in a deal to take Rezolve public at an estimated valuation of $2 billion, according to a press release on Friday (Dec. 17).

Founded in 2017, Rezolve’s platform specializes in turning physical advertisements and products into shoppable merchandise. The enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform was designed specifically for mobile commerce and engagement.

The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Armada Acquisition Corp., backed by Cohen & Company, was founded in November of 2020 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its business purpose is to combine with one or more companies to bring about a “merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination.”

The combined companies’ shares are expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ZONE.

Related: Platform Businesses Dominate End of Year SPAC, IPO Activity

It’s anticipated that the transaction will result in $190 million in gross proceeds, including $150 million in trust, assuming no redemptions, and approximately $40 million of additional capital from SPAC investor Betsy Cohen and Christian Angermayer, founder of investment firm Apeiron Investment Group, according to the release.

London-based Rezolve said that its platform gives businesses direct access to consumers, who point their phones at physical objects to generate actionable or shoppable items. The software can also boost marketing efforts using location-based technology, Rezolve said.

See also: Gensler Seeks SPAC Investor Protection Recommendations From SEC Staff

Rezolve founder and CEO Dan Wagner has been building eCommerce businesses for over 35 years and will continue to lead the combined company following the close of the transaction.

“We are doing for mobile commerce what Shopify and BigCommerce Holdings have done for web commerce,” Wagner said in the announcement. “We believe mobile commerce is the future and our proprietary technology enables physical merchants to tap into this potentially massive opportunity.”

Wagner added that after working on the problem for so many years, the company is positioned to use its solutions and partnerships to leverage the “near $500 billion global market opportunity over time” and use the proceeds from this transaction to speed adoption and market growth.