ImpactDeSPACS foundation year and recommendations PART 6.pdf

ImpactDeSPACS: Founding Year & Recommendations 2Q2020-3Q2022
Part 6 in a series on Impact(De)SPACS, Catalysing the ImpactEconomy
The SPACBoom has many interesting features and one is the relative youth of merging, listing
companies. With a lot of tech, it’s an opportunity to invest in State of the Art Tech Innovations
with great Scaling Potential. Eg platform technology & biotech.
A Special Purpose Aqcuisition or blank cheque Company, aims to find an innovative, high
growth, disruptive company to merge with. ImpactSPACs target themes such as AgTech,
Healthcare, EV, deCarbonization, RenewEnergy. Also ESG & Sustainability which is operation
focused: #DoBetter, and preferably core activity: #DoGOOD.
Private, non governmental, Finance is crucial in achieving the GlobalGoals, screening sustainable impact
business models and supplying the approriate risk adapted financial instruments. SPACs are Affordable:
10$ at launch, Accessible: listed/Public Investment opportunity. Making Impact (De)SPACs great
-potential- accellerators of the Impact Economy.
The Impact Economy aims to:
● Integrate financial & societal returns of Products, Services & Companies;
● Achieve Basic Needs fulfillment for All using new Disruptive (Scaling) Tech; and
● Decouple Economic Growth and the Value Chain from Negative Impacts.
In part 1 of this series Facts & Figures I showed that ImpactSPACs from the SPACBoom raised almost as
much capital <60B US$ from their listing, IPO1 as thePIPEs: Private Investment in Public Equity: 58 BUS$
and in the last part I featured the Rise of Retail investors. That my ImpactSPAC IPO’s, DeSPACs selection
attracted this much primary/private capital supports the argument that impact investing in public
equity is a viable strategy. It counters the traditional academic, private equity investors perception that
‘Impact Investing is ineffective in Public Equity’ often because you can hardly ‘engage’ effectively with
Drs Alcanne J. Houtzaager MA, Impact Innovation & Investing, Tools & Thought Pieces p 1

companies as a (small) public equity investor. ‘Engagement’ is a strategy of (organized, representative)
Institutional (Big) & Activist investors having a ’dialogue’ on Impact Topics & Themes such as Taroil,
Carbon, Inclusion, Labor Rights, GHG Emissions, Diversity & Inclusion and a lot on the management
Boards payment & bonus especially when shareholders bleed.
It is visible at shareholders meetings as ‘resolutions’ & votingappeals and the company’s board ‘voting
advice’. Of course these communications are prepared way in advance with White papers, Factsheets,
questions & (resolution) proposals, and meetings for delegates and big investors. Eg check out Dutch
institutional investors organization Eumedion. https://en.eumedion.nl/Themes/corporate-governance.html
Here are two great quotes by investment experts on the matter of impact investing in public equity:
Eli Koen at UBP, specifically mentioning IPO’s and the tech sector in the US (not SPACs!)
and Seb Beloe at Wheb Sustainable Investing UK.
Mr Koen writes in UBP’s WhitePaper on Impact Investing & Public Equity (# & bold by me)
‘In terms of asset class, impact investing has traditionally been associated with private capital.
Public equities make up just 17% of the USD 502 billion in assets managed in impact
strategies, a negligible amount compared with the size of public equity markets’.
AJH With so much money in public markets take more advantage of it!
‘Our argument is that not only is impact investing in public equities possible, but that it is in
fact essential for shareholder welfare maximisation* via engagement, as well as for
achieving scale at the level required by potential solutions to some of the most pressing
global issues.’ *Nobel Laureate Oliver Hart argues that the function of a firm is to maximise shareholder welfare
by consulting its shareholders on what they want managers to do. This is a very different conclusion from
Friedman’s view on profit or shareholder value maximisation as the sole aim. AJH Achieve scale!
''A good example of the role public equities can play in impact investing is the technology
sector ecosystem in the US. An interactive ecosystem of #universities, angel- and venture-

capital investors, #accelerators, #incubators and #regulators supports the founding of
thousands of start-ups in the tech sector. The most successful of those feed the public equity
markets via #IPOs. In addition to IPOs, public equity markets reduce the cost of capital for
tech companies along this value chain while enabling all types of investors to achieve
attractive returns. (#inclusive)
◆ We envision similar ecosystems emerging for impact investments which would include
#universities, #nongovernmental organisations, institutional development funds,
#foundations, #charities, private equity and debt investors. Public equity would certainly play
an important role in this ecosystem by determining the cost of capital along the investment
chain and providing an exit route for early investors in private markets for impact companies
that are most financially successful.
Linkhttps://www.ubp.com/files/live/sites/ubp/files/White%20Paper_Impact%20in%20public%20equities_June202
0.pdf?pdf=White%20Paper_Impact%20in%20public%20equities_June2020 4p.
Koens remark on the blendedcapital & impact investors is a topic I plan to dive into. I started my ImpactSPAC
research at eg crunchbase venture capital data base and found many grants or seed capital leads especially in
the ImpactStars portfolio such as Bill Gates, connected to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or by the
US Department of Defense.
Impact investing in listed equtities Whebs approach (bold by me).
Seb Beloe is head of research Wheb Investments , previously of SRI at Henderons Global and
SustainAbility (research). They focus on ‘Enterprise-level investor contribution’ (not the GIIN’s
with intent and ‘what would have happened anyway’: additional capital investments).
But differ in opinion on the ‘’common extension of the traditionalistic view is that ‘real’
impact investing cannot happen in listed equities because, other than in some limited
circumstances,*
shares in listed companies are just traded between different investors. *

For example, when shares are issued to raise new capital at initial public offerings (IPOs) or
at subsequent capital raising events.
Beloe quotes KatherinE Davidson at Schoders ‘Traditional impact investing… doesn’t really
work in public equity markets because you’re just buying the shares from somebody else:
you are not really affecting the company’s access to capital.’
Beloe: ‘But the same can be (and most often is) the case for transactions in private
markets’....’’Where there is a distinction, in our view, is between primary capital and
secondary equity trading, with the former directly supporting enterprise impact’’
He continues ‘Secondary equity trading is nonetheless critical in indirectly supporting
enterprise impact in several ways’, for 5 pages but I stop here as I focus on SPAC Ipos’.,
Morningstar’s interview with Katherine Davidson at Schoders impact investing with a small i
Link: https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/207324/impact-investing-with-a-small-i.aspx 19Nov2020. Video/Txt
Link:https://www.whebgroup.com/assets/files/uploads/20211014-impact-investing-in-listed-equtities-whebs-approac
h.pdf 16p. 2021
Or a new Public Platform?
Of course Social Stock Exchanges listing ‘’screened’ retail impact investments with transparent
impact metrics would really accelerate theimpact investing market, quality & quantity wise.
Karen Wendt published an academic paper offering ‘a prognosis about the contribution of SSEs in
establishing an efficient market, addressing investment gaps and redirecting capital based on a
literature review, analysis on unmet interests and needs and open questions in impact investing’...
‘SSE’s were founded in Developed Markets: UK, US, Canada, and Singapoore and Emerging
Msarkets: Brazil, South Africa and Kenya’. 51p.
Karen Wendt Social Stock Exchanges: Defining the Research Agenda (2020) Modul Unu Vienna
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342620750_Social_Stock_Exchanges_Defining_the_Research_Agenda

India is moving forward fast now in a great looking partnership:
‘On December 19, [2022] the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE India) received an in-principle
approval from the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to set-up SSE as a separate segment’’
https://www.livemint.com/market/stock-market-news/sebi-gives-final-nod-for-social-stock-exchange-what-is-sse-who-c
an-list-on-it-11672192595818.html
I just joined Bobby Fishkins Voluntary Network for the Social Stock Exchange Movement, as I
always supported the initiative in London & Scotland and global initiatives in my newsletters.
An Inclusive ImpactSPACs database
My ImpactSPACs database selection excluded traditional vice stock AGTAF Alcohol, Gambling, Tobacco,
Adult Entertainment (=Porn), Firearms, Fossil Fuel and a few companies that did not display any kind of
connection to todays’ realities. My database comprises of a little over 200 DeSPACed SPACs financed with
PIPEs Private Investment in Public Equity*. So my #inclusion is quite generous, with about 35 of DeSPACs
without a word on their impact ambitions, #ESG Environment, Social & Governance or other (standard)
Governance. In 2022! Even though they are in an impact (sub)sector eg biotech with immense impact
potential for people’s health & lives.
The fundraisind Good News marketeer in me screams ‘’Be Good and Tell it!’’
My Good News here is that ImpctDeSPACs can contribute to the Impact Economy immensely and on the
downside as I end up with almost 90% of all DeSPAC IPO’s some of my findings will not surprise you.
From 1 year olds to a Centenarian
I put the foundation year first because some asset managers won’t touch companies that havent been
listed for less than three years so why bother to rate right…. That is one way to avoid risk, and I am
surprised that with the disappointing returns, results only 7 companies have delisted, transformed mainly
due to acquisition/merger. Which is also fast way for another impact accelerator to list. …

Most ImpactDeSPACs merged, formed a business combination were
Founded between 3 and 10 year before;
6 companies were founded the year before and 3 two years earlier;
The outliers on the other side were founded 112 and 51 years before. (profiled)
Founding year
I put the foundation year first because some asset managers won’t touch companies that haven’t been
listed for less than three years so why bother to rate right…. That is one way to avoid risk.
Also it takes a while to get all the numbers and analyse them especially in new markets such as Space,
Satelites… and because of the ImpactSPAC listing Boom starting in Q2020, peaking in 2021, the two years
of search time and 2 possible extensions companies are stil listing. It demands much monitoring: the
SPACteam, the merger announcement & response, PIPE involvement and then the merger company.
1 year 6 companies: 3 Life Science 2 EV & Satellite technology.
2 years 3 companies: LS, Ren Energy & Deapsea Rare Metals Mining (disputed over potential damage)
3 years 11 companies: 3 Life Science, Telehealth ,2 Agtech, Cyber, Insurtech, EV Air, Energy storage,
Apparel, Rare Earth metals,
4 years 11 companies: Ren. Energy, 2 LS: Cancer, biotech, F&B: coffee, salads, EV Air, Energy storage,
2 Lidar, Space, PropTech,
5 years 7 companies: 2 EV (micro), Mobility, IT, 2 LS biotech & pharma, Canabis
6 years 16 companies: 3 EV (2 air, charching), Mobility, 2 Canabis platform, 3 LS: biotech, healthtech,
Proptech, cyber, space, lidar, robotics, internet, home insurtech, deapsea services
7 years 13 companies: Inclusive Fintech, Home loans, Fintech 4 canabis, 7 LS: farma, 3 biotech, care,
Trials, surgery) autonomous vehicle, mobility, lidar, proptech
8 years 14 companies: 5 LS: diagnostics, health information & tech, insurtch, biotech), 2 fintech,
EV trucks, batteries, Coffee, fintech, security, quantum computing

9 years 9 companies: media platform, 2: satelites & navigation , biotech, EV charging, Ren energy,
healthtech, automation, storage tech,
10 years 12 companies: music, 1st Arabic listing. 2 E charging, homelets, infrastructure telecom & energy,
lidar. Platform for plastic free, susty goods, LS: cancer, Agtech, 2 EV battery, Ren energy…..
>20 years 14 before 2000 of which in the 1990’s: 8 & the 1980s: 4 $MPLN Multiplan healthcare analytics,
cost management; $ADSE Ads-tec Energy (German, battery buffered energy systems); $VLNS the Valens
Company (Canadian canabis); and $STRC Sarcos technology & Robotics: Robotics as a Service, 1st
responder, exoskeleton, artificial limbs servinghealthcare, life sciences, telecommunications, robotics,
defense, and entertainment industries.
1971: 1 ForAfrica, $AFRI 1st North African , 2nd Arabic listing from Morocco Commodities, mainly plants:
grains, also animal food.
1910: 1 Ermengildo Zegna, $ZGN (very) luxury apparel
Profiled on p 10 & 11 to show that impact investing has many features.
(not represented the Delisted DeSPACs 7: bankruptcy, takeover but with poor returns of many DeSPACs
about a hundfrs below 3$ at the end of 2022,nicely spread over 36 below 1$, 36 below 2$ and 29 belows
3$, 7 delisting seems not to bad. (yet)
Founding years and sectors
The detailed list shows that Life Science & Biotech and Electrification (vehicles, charging, batteries etc)
are dominant in (De)SPAcs and that these companies have been working towards their listing for years.
For biotech the uncertainty of working from trial to trial result makes SPACs an obvious listing instrument
and in Electrification the fast moving technology, regulatory/political realities and competition.

Yahoo Finance Recommendations overview: Positive
Not surprisingly, a large majority of recommendations are positive: BUY or buy, a minority is Hold,
Underperfom and Sell is very rare, a prelude to delisting by acquisition or bankruptcy.
Average Target Prices are easily multipliers, but maybe sometimes old(er), thus not showing the drop in
ImpactDeSPAC, (Technology, ESG) shareprice in 2022.
Number of Recommendations
A small number of recommendations & price targets for most ImpactDeSPACs could be a sign that risk
raters are in fact not very positive and dont want to harm their reputation for finding opportunities and
companies by making that public.
Then again IPO’s are risky and DeSPACs riskier with mere financial forecasts and as an asset class with
many cashburners and (still) loss making companies, technology and ESG ‘out of fashion’ and how to
scale (exponentially) in real economies extreme inflation, DeSPACs had every force working against it.
2022 was a terrible year all over for most investors: nowhere to hide, maybe only in shorting
I’m convinced the number of recommendations has declined with poor DeSPAC results and dwindling
SPAC numbers, but I dont have the data to show it.
Billions attract Raters
I looked into the number of recommendations for Impact DeSPACs and the analysis was difficult because
January often shows nil. But that can mean that ratings havent been recorded or given out yet, so it is
hard to say if raters lost interest. So if January showed nil, I’d lok at December 2022. Yahoo Finance also
shows rating iniatated.

0 ratings > 10 ImpactDeSPACs
1 rating 20x 8 ratings 8x
2 ratings 30x 9 ratings 8x
From 9 ratings on I find a large majority companies with over a Billion US$ market capitalization,
But don’t forget many de ImpactDeSPACs stock price has halved or worse since listing so the initial
market capitalization has gone down too.
Generally speaking non US companies ImpactDeSPACs seem to get less attention whilst they list in the
States because they plan to grow their activities there or raise capital. With international financial markets
that does not necessarily mean US capitals trading fees are very competitive. Eg for me as a Dutch person
it is cheaper to trade on eg NYSE, Nasdaq than on the Dutch stock exchange.
Market Capitalization
About 20-25 companies have over 1B US$ market capitalization. Outlier is $LCID LUCID EV, with almost 16
Billion US$. Ermengildo Zegna $ZGN has over 2,7BUS$ market capitalization and one recommendation,
but it is a European, EU company

PROFILED Outliers:A Centenarian and a Quinquagenarian
Actually 112 years old….Definately the outlier in my database is Ermenegildo Zegna N.V $ZGN the luxury
menswear, footwear, leather goods, and other accessories under the Zegna and the Thom Browne brands
(design, manufacturing, marketing & distribution) Founded in 1910 by Ermenegildo Zegna and now run by
his grandson with the same name. With a nice return for early SPAC investors at 11$ and average price
target of almost 13$ even though it is loss making since 2020 (listing in Dec21) It has a market
capitalization of 2,7Billion US$ and only 4 recommendations. That seems low for such a valuable
company, not for a ‘nonUSA’, European company. 4 recommendations in Dec: 1BUY 1 buy 2 Hold , 4
initiated in January: 2 to Buy 2 Goldman Sachs & UBS, and to Neutral by Bank of America & Deutsche.
Why did I include it as an ImpactSPAC? European Quality clothes (price) demands supply chain scrutiny
and make it less likely to end up on landfills, more likely is generational passing on, vintage, Sharing
Economy. It publishes a Sustainability Report since 2020 and gets a low operational ESG risk from
Sustainalytics https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/ermenegildo-zegna-nv/2000705538
From Zegna Groups Sustainability Report
Unique: Zegna established Oasi Zegna, a freely accessible natural reserve in Trivero (Valdilana, Biella), in 1993
with the goal of fostering a positive relationship with the local territory and the community. It ‘disposed’ of it in
2021 the year that it listed. But ‘entered into an arrangement with Oasi Zegna. In exchange of an annual fee,
Oasi Zegna will provide the following to the Group: licensing, marketing and other sustainability-related
services that also include the conservation and devel - opment of the Oasi Forest heritage and the protection of
its territory for the benefit of the local communities;.
It also founded Ermenegildo Zegna Founder’s Scholarship Fund & Fondazione Zegna, (in 2000) a charitable
organization for philanthropic work on the part of the Zegna family, focusing on Social Responsibility and Arts
initiatives But in the 2021 report writes it stopped contributions and is considering how to continue the
relationship with Fondazione Zegna. The Scholarship Fund management has shifted from the Group to
Fondazione Zegna in 2021. It received the hs th Rainforrest Alliance certification in 1998.
It started reforestation of the region in the 1930’s and in 1940 reclaimed 88km2 of Valsessera land improveming
communication routes, watercourses and alpine dwellings, pastures and mountain pasture and the protection

of the forest heritage. In 1952 it opened Alpine Cologna for summer camps possible for its textile workers’
children, it installed a (hydro energy) dam for extra power supply in 1959-1960. After 2000 so much happens,
I’ll stop here. A century well spent apart from creating thousands of jobs and garments. Then again a 625e
T-shirt baffles me: it is about what a single person on welfare in the Netherlands is supposed to survive on…
I add their ESG materiality matrix as Appendix 1 (I love materiality matrices and especially their approach: a
dialogue with 10 stakeholders (p.16) realism: • Impact of the Group (i.e. how significantly can the Group impact
on each issue in the next 3 to 5 years); Sustainable Finance as a Material Factor. Check out the report pls. P18:
Commitments https://www.zegnagroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/11-07-ZEGNA_SUSTAINABILITY-REPORT-2021_INTERACTIVE.pdf
Just to illustrate that ultra young is very exciting in tech companies, but that an over a century old
family business is hard to top, when it comes to social corporate responsability track record…..
Next outlier: a 50+ lister: 1st Moroccan company (1971) claiming 90 years experience
ForAfric Global $AFRI Also does well return wise for early SPAC investors with 11$ but no averag price
target or even recommendations I think the raters are totally lost in this unknown market. It listed in May
2022 but after an initial drop to 8,26US$ it has been very steady. YF profile: Forafric Global PLC engages in the
purchase, storage, transport, processing, and sale of agricultural commodities and commodity products in Morocco and
Sub-Saharan Africa. The company offers flour and semolina; and secondary processing products, such as pasta and couscous
under the Tria and MayMouna brands. It serves wholesale foods manufacturers and distributors The company also exports its
products to approximately 45 countries https://forafric.com/
SUSTAINABILITY: Our actions and decisions are always taken with an environment-friendly
state of mind. But that’s all…….. (!)

Questions & Comments are Welcome
Please connect through
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alcannehoutzaager Open to Work Remote, Hybrid, Malta The Netherlands
This is part 6 of a series on ImpactSPACs from the SPACBOOM I posted on Slideshare:
Impact SPACS Facts & Figures (1) https://www.slideshare.net/alcanne/impact-spacs-part-1-pdf
Impact deSPACS Sectors & Impact Information (2)
https://www.slideshare.net/alcanne/impactdespacs-part-2-sectors-impact-information-pdfpdf
Impact intended SPACS (3) https://www.slideshare.net/alcanne/impact-intended-spacs-part-3pdf
Stars Spangled ImpactSPACs (4) https://www.slideshare.net/alcanne/stars-spangled-spacs-part-4pdf
Retail SPAC investors in the SPACBoom (5)
https://www.slideshare.net/alcanne/retail-spac-investors-in-the-spacboom-20202022pdf
ImpactDeSPACS: Founding year & Recommendations
DISCLAIMER I’m not an investment professional, my focus is on impact and inclusive2
impact investing opportunities. Retail public equity investing, crowdfunding for impact,
innovative impact investment instruments, impact investing trends and markets growth.
I’ve studied and practiced impact investing since 2011 and developed Tools & Thought
Pieces. I switched to impact investing after running fundraising & awareness campaigns
for large Dutch NGO’s, mainly in Health and lastly for the Dutch Protestant Church & Kerk
in Actie. I read Politicial Contemporary History at UUtrecht & RUGroningen and wrote my
(RUG) thesis on Dutch Development Cooperation: (econ.) Strategies & (pol. Trends. Post Grad:
Aud. International Law and the Organization of Development (ILOD) & Master in the
Politics of Alternative Development Strategies (PADS) at (Erasmus) Institute for Social
Studies in The Hague, The Netherlands. I reside in Malta, EU .

https://www.zegnagroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/11-07-ZEGNA_SUSTAINABILITY-REPORT-2021_INTERACTIVE.pdf

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