Given the relatively low volume and lack of diversification (in terms of industry, enterprise value, capitalization and otherwise) of companies pursuing de-SPAC transactions prior to the current SPAC boom, sufficient data is not yet available to facilitate meaningful studies of what, if any, long-term trading success and valuation differences may exist between companies that have listed via a conventional underwritten initial public offering (IPO) and those that have made their public debut via a de-SPAC merger.

However, given the frenzy of SPACtivity in the last 12 months, and what appears to be at least another 18 to 24 months of continued unprecedented volumes of SPAC deal-making based on the number of SPACs currently in the market, it is worth pausing to consider some of the real and meaningful distinctions between the two processes as more and more companies contemplate which path to follow toward the promise of the opening bell.