Digital manufacturing and supply chain company Fast Radius Inc. said Monday it will be acquired by special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) ECP Environmental Growth Opportunities Corp. (NASDAQ:ENNV) in a deal that values the Chicago-based company at $1.4 billion.
The transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, attaches a $995 million enterprise value to the combined company, with an additional $445 million in cash pumped in. The cash proceeds consist of $345 million held by ENNV and $100 million from investors such as Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP and UPS Inc. (NYSE:UPS), the latter having an operating relationship with Fast Radius at UPS’ global air hub in Louisville, Kentucky.
Fast Radius management, employees and existing shareholders will roll all of their existing equity holdings into the equity of the combined company, Fast Radius said in a statement. Once the deal closes, ENNV will be renamed “Fast Radius Inc.” and will remain listed on the Nasdaq. News of the acquisition was first reported on Sunday by The Wall Street Journal.
SPACs like ENNV are publicly traded shell companies created to acquire a private business like Fast Radius and take it public. Merging with a SPAC has become an increasingly common way for startups to raise large sums and go public without the restrictions and compliance requirements of a traditional initial public offering (IPO).
Fast Radius projects that revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization will hit $635 million and $135 million, respectively, in 2025.
Fast Radius operates in the cloud-based manufacturing segment, which is analogous to the more established cloud-computing model. Traditional storage would be replaced by virtual warehouses, and legacy transportation modes would be superseded by digital technology where parts are moved virtually into Fast Radius’ “micro-factories” — dubbed by the company as a “factory in a box” — where they would be embedded into locally produced goods, according to the company.
Fast Radius said its model supports parts manufacturing on a large scale. The company said it has already built 11 million custom parts. Fast Radius has established one of its micro-factories at the UPS Worldport facility in Louisville.
The cloud-manufacturing model “ushers in a new era of innovation in the physical world, just as cloud computing has done in the digital world,” Fast Radius said in its statement.
The company will continue to be led by co-founder and CEO Lou Rassey, who helped build and run advanced industrial technology projects for consulting firm McKinsey & Co.