Andretti Acquisition announced that the SEC has decalred effective the SPAC’s registration statement relating to its proposed business combination with Zapata AI. The SPAC’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the deal Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. Eastern.
If the deal is approved and closed, Andretti and Zapata AI anticipate that shares and warrants of the combined entity will begin trading on the NYSE under new symbols ZPTA and ZPTA.WS.
The SPAC’s $200 million deal with Zapata was announced in September. Two key members of the SPAC’s management team are racing legends Mario and Michael Andretti.\
By combining numerical and text-based solutions, Zapata AI empowers industrial-scale enterprises to leverage large language models and numerical generative models “better, faster, and more efficiently—delivering solutions to drive growth, savings and unprecedented insight,” the company said. Zapata AI was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Boston.
The pro forma equity value of the combined company (inclusive of the remaining cash in trust at Andretti Acquisition) is expected to be between $281 million and $365 million, depending on final redemptions.
The parties late last month secured a forward purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, under which Lincoln Park has agreed to purchase up to $75 million in shares of the combined company over a 36-month period following the closing of the merger, according to a regulatory filing.
The surviving company will pay Lincoln Park a commitment fee of $1,687,500 for the FPA.
The SPAC raised $200 million in February 2022 with plans at that time to focus on opportunities that could “benefit from the iconic Andretti brand name in the broadly-defined automotive industry,” according to the original S-1 registration statement.
Cohen & Company Capital Markets is serving as exclusive financial advisor and lead capital markets advisor to Andretti Acquisition. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is legal counsel to Andretti. Foley Hoag is legal counsel to Zapata. Read more.
