Dealflow | February 11, 2021

Colin Kaepernick teams up with The Najafi Cos. to form a SPAC

Roodgally Senatus
ImpactAlpha Editor

Roodgally Senatus

ImpactAlpha, February 11 — Former NFL quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick is teaming up with a private equity firm founded by Phoenix Suns minority owner and businessman Jahm Najafi.

Kaepernick and The Najafi Cos. are floating a blank check company, Mission Advancement Corp., to raise $250 million to acquire a company at “the intersection of consumer and impact.” An SEC filing indicates the SPAC is looking for enterprises worth more than $1 billion. 

Najafi is listed as CEO of Mission Advancement; he and Kaepernick will be co-chairmen. Among the directors: Google’s Attica Jaques, Birchbox’s Katia Beauchamp and Omar Johnson, ex- of Apple.

SPAC attack

Blank check companies raised nearly $26 billion In January, a monthly record.

Some of the action: EVgo, a Los Angeles-based electric-vehicle charging operator, is going public via a climate SPAC. Sustainable Development Acquisition I Corp. from Renewable Resource Group and Capricorn Investment Group is looking to acquire companies aligned with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Capital is looking to invest in companies supporting “the electrification of industry and society.”