Tuatara Archives - Green Market Report

Cannabis tech company Springbig is going to become a publicly-traded company through the SPAC Tuatara Capital Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: TCAC). The new symbol when the company begins trading on NASDAQ will be SBIG. It is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2022.

According to the company statement, the estimated post-transaction equity valuation will be approximately $500 million, with roughly $200 million cash on hand after closing. That’s a fairly frothy valuation considering Springbig is only on track to report $24 million in revenue for 2021.  It seems the argument for the estimated value is the belief that Springbig expects to capitalize on the steady growth in cannabis retailers as new recreational markets emerge across the U.S., in addition to capturing larger marketing spends from cannabis brands as they work to obtain direct access to consumers through high engagement, omnichannel solutions.

Jeffrey Harris, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of springbig, said, “The key to our success has been empowering our clients by connecting them with their customers and engaging directly as they scale their businesses. Clients can use our SaaS platform to drive increased customer spend, build brand loyalty, and increase their potential reach. We pride ourselves on providing marketing-leading technology solutions and an exceptional level of service to springbig clients. This leads to excellent client retention, providing a robust base for strong future growth. As the cannabis industry continues to grow, this strong foundation will enable us to leverage our data and technology to consolidate across multiple market verticals including data analytics, increased marketing automations, and advertising solutions.”

Harris will continue to lead the company following the closing of the transaction. Current Chief Financial Officer, Paul Sykes, who has significant experience in high-growth SaaS businesses in a public company environment, will also continue in his role. Springbig serves over 1,000 clients across the United States and Canada, compromising more than 2,300 retail locations, and has over 41 million consumers enrolled in its proven B2B2C platform, through which more than 90 million transactions have been processed in the past twelve months with attributable gross merchandise value (“GMV”) of over $7 billion.

“In the rapidly evolving cannabis industry, with numerous regulations and restrictions, springbig has emerged as a market leader in direct-to-consumer marketing and engagement. Springbig’s technology platform drives loyalty and customer engagement, and in this regulated environment, a high level of engagement is crucial for cannabis retailers and brands to reach their customers in an increasingly competitive market,” said Al Foreman, Chief Executive Officer of TCAC. “The extremely talented and experienced team at springbig has harnessed the technologies necessary to address this market opportunity, and they are well-positioned for long-term, sustainable growth as new states progress legalization frameworks and with the potential for Federal cannabis policy reform on the horizon.”