Why More Growth Companies Are Looking Beyond the Traditional IPO
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Enhanced Games at Resorts World Las Vegas. PHOTO: FACEBOOK@ENHANCEDGAMES
Enhanced Games reached the public markets in less than six months.
In an era where traditional IPOs can take more than a year to complete, the speed of the company’s merger with A Paradise Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: APAD) stands out, particularly given the significantly tighter regulatory scrutiny surrounding SPAC transactions since 2021.
The transaction highlights why some growth-stage companies are evaluating special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) as a viable alternative to the traditional IPO process.
Led by Dr. Aron D’Souza and backed by investors including Peter Thiel and Christian Angermayer, Enhanced Games announced its Business Combination Agreement with APAD in November 2025. The transaction closed in May 2026, bringing the company to the public markets materially faster than the timeline typically associated with a conventional IPO.
For decades, the traditional IPO has been considered the default route for private companies entering the public markets. But for many high-growth businesses today, the process has become increasingly slow, expensive, and difficult to execute efficiently.
A conventional IPO can take well over a year to prepare, involving extensive audits, regulatory reviews, underwriter coordination, investor roadshows, and careful timing against market conditions. During that period, companies remain exposed to volatility, shifting investor sentiment, and delayed access to capital. According to EY, many companies postponed planned IPOs amid market volatility and uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariff announcements, highlighting how sensitive IPO execution can be to broader market conditions.
For businesses operating in fast-moving industries, timing matters. Delayed access to liquidity can slow expansion, hiring, acquisitions, partnerships, and product development at critical stages of growth.
That is one reason why the merger between Enhanced Games and APAD is notable. The SPAC structure allowed Enhanced Games to negotiate valuation, governance terms, and financing arrangements early in the process, compressing many of the steps normally associated with a conventional IPO into a single transaction.
Enhanced Games operates across sports, media, performance science, and wellness, sectors that require significant upfront investment and rapid execution. Earlier access to public capital provided the company with liquidity, visibility, and strategic flexibility at an important stage of growth.
The public listing also gives the company tradable equity that can potentially support acquisitions, partnerships, athlete compensation structures, sponsorship arrangements, and future fundraising initiatives. These capabilities are particularly relevant in industries evolving as rapidly as sports entertainment, wellness, and human-performance science, where speed itself can become a competitive advantage.
The deal also highlights one of the SPAC market’s core advantages: the ability to combine capital raising and public-market entry within a single process.
Beyond speed, the SPAC structure offered Enhanced Games another major advantage: earlier visibility into valuation.
In a traditional IPO, pricing is largely determined near the end of the process through institutional book-building and investor demand during the roadshow phase. Even late-stage IPO candidates can face valuation cuts, downsized offerings, or postponed listings if market conditions weaken.
Recent IPO markets have repeatedly demonstrated this risk. Instacart went public in 2023 at an approximate US$9.9 billion valuation, which is dramatically below the US$39 billion private valuation it achieved during the 2021 market peak. Similarly, WeWork’s failed IPO attempt became one of the clearest examples of how rapidly investor sentiment can shift during the IPO process.
SPAC mergers operate differently.
Enhanced Games secured an implied enterprise valuation of approximately US$1.2 billion months before closing the transaction. While the merger still required SEC review and shareholder approval, the company gained significantly greater visibility into deal economics much earlier in the process.
That certainty is particularly valuable for growth companies whose valuations are tied more closely to long-term platform potential than near-term profitability.
Rather than relying entirely on shifting IPO market sentiment, the SPAC structure allowed Enhanced Games to negotiate around its broader growth strategy and future expansion plans from the outset.
The Enhanced Games transaction also reinforces why some growth-stage companies evaluate SPACs as an alternative to the traditional IPO process.
Traditional IPO investors often prefer businesses with long operating histories, stable earnings, and predictable growth profiles. Many expansion-stage companies simply do not fit that model yet, even if their long-term opportunities are substantial.
SPACs offer a different pathway.
Instead of waiting years to achieve the operational maturity typically expected in a conventional IPO, companies can access public-market capital earlier while still in growth mode.
For Enhanced Games, early access to the public markets provides more than capital. Public equity can support acquisitions, partnerships, athlete compensation structures, sponsorship arrangements, and future fundraising efforts. These capabilities are particularly important in sectors evolving as rapidly as sports entertainment, wellness, and human-performance science, where speed itself can become a competitive advantage.
The transaction also highlights how the SPAC market has evolved since the speculative boom of 2020 and 2021.
Today’s de-SPAC environment operates under significantly tighter regulatory scrutiny, including enhanced disclosure requirements, greater SEC oversight, and stricter treatment of projections and liability standards.
The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance noted that redemption rates spiked in 2022, in some cases approaching 100%, contributing to a significant slowdown of the SPAC activity.
In response to rising investor concerns and regulatory pressure, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission adopted enhanced SPAC disclosure and liability rules in 2024 designed to align de-SPAC transactions more closely with traditional IPO standards. Sponsors also faced greater pressure to demonstrate financing certainty, stronger disclosures, and more credible post-merger execution.
Enhanced Games completed its transaction within this more disciplined environment.
Its Form S-4 included audited financial statements, governance disclosures, transaction details, and extensive risk-factor analysis subject to SEC review. The company also supplemented SPAC trust proceeds with a separately arranged US$40 million PIPE financing commitment designed to strengthen liquidity and improve deal certainty.
That structure reflects a more institutional and disciplined SPAC market than the speculative wave seen several years ago.
The Enhanced Games transaction demonstrates that, despite tighter regulation and a far more selective market environment, SPACs can offer certain growth companies a practical alternative to the traditional IPO.
For businesses prioritising speed, capital access, and execution certainty, a well-structured de-SPAC transaction may provide a more efficient route to the public markets, particularly when supported by credible financing, disciplined structuring, and strong investor backing.
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A global survey shows robot anxiety drops when people encounter robots in real life
Updated
April 1, 2026 8:55 AM
Ameca the humanoid robot, featuring a grey rubber face. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK
People often assume robots make people uneasy everywhere. But a new global study suggests something more nuanced. Robot anxiety tends to be highest in places where people rarely see robots in real life. Where robots are more visible, attitudes are often far more positive. That insight comes from a global study by Hexagon AB, which surveyed 18,000 participants across nine major markets. The research explored how adults and children think about robots and how those views change depending on everyday exposure.
In the United Kingdom, anxiety about robots is the highest among the countries studied. Around 52% of adults say they feel worried that something might go wrong when they think about interacting with or working alongside robots. South Korea sits at the other end of the spectrum, with only 29% reporting similar concerns. One factor appears to explain much of the gap: familiarity.
British adults are among the least likely to have encountered robots in real life. Only about 30% say they have seen or used one. In contrast, countries where robots are more visible tend to report greater comfort. China offers the clearest example. Around 75% of adults there say they have seen or interacted with robots. At the same time, 81% say they feel excited about the technology’s future potential.
The study suggests that attitudes toward robots are not fixed. Instead, they shift depending on where people encounter them and what tasks they perform. When robots are seen solving clear, practical problems, confidence tends to rise.
Across the surveyed countries, adults report the highest comfort levels with robots working in factories and warehouses. Around 63% say they are comfortable with robots in those environments. These are settings where tasks are clearly defined and safety standards are well understood. Acceptance drops in more personal spaces. Only 46% say they feel comfortable with robots in the home, while comfort falls further to 39% when robots are imagined in classrooms.
In other words, context matters. People appear more willing to accept robots when they take on physically demanding or dangerous work. Half of the respondents say improved safety is one of the main advantages of robotics in those environments. A similar share point to productivity gains as another benefit. Another finding challenges a common assumption about public fears. Job loss is often described as the biggest concern surrounding robotics. But the study suggests security risk worries people more.
Around 51% of adults say their biggest concern about robots at work is the possibility that the machines could be hacked or misused. That fear outweighs worries about physical malfunction or injury, which stand at 41%. Concerns about being replaced at work appear at the same level.
For many respondents, the issue is not simply whether robots can perform tasks. It is whether the systems controlling them are secure. According to researchers involved in the study, these concerns reflect how people evaluate emerging technologies. Instead of having a single opinion about robotics, people tend to judge each situation individually.
A robot helping assemble products in a factory may feel acceptable. The same technology operating in more sensitive environments can raise different questions. Dr. Jim Everett, an associate professor in moral psychology, says trust in artificial intelligence and robotics is often misunderstood. People are not simply asking whether they trust the technology, he notes. They are thinking about specific tools performing specific roles.
A robot assisting in a classroom or helping in healthcare carries different expectations than an AI system used in defense or surveillance. Even though these technologies are often grouped together in public debates, people evaluate them differently depending on their purpose.
Finally, the study also highlights another important factor shaping public attitudes: experience. When people actually encounter robots, fear often declines. Michael Szollosy, a robotics researcher involved in the project, says reactions tend to change quickly when individuals meet a robot for the first time.
The idea of an autonomous machine can feel intimidating in theory. But when people see a small service robot or an industrial machine performing a straightforward task, the reaction is often much calmer. Exposure can shift perceptions from abstract fears to practical understanding.
That shift matters because robotics is moving steadily into everyday environments. From manufacturing and logistics to healthcare and public services, machines capable of autonomous or semi-autonomous work are becoming more common.
As that happens, the study suggests public confidence may depend less on technical breakthroughs and more on visibility and transparency. Burkhard Boeckem, chief technology officer at Hexagon AB, argues that trust grows when people understand what robots are designed to do and where their limits lie.
Anxiety tends to increase when systems feel invisible or poorly understood. Clear boundaries and clear explanations can have the opposite effect. When people see robots working safely alongside humans, performing well-defined tasks and operating within clear rules, the technology becomes easier to accept.
In that sense, the future of robotics may depend as much on public familiarity as on engineering. The machines themselves are advancing quickly. But the relationship between humans and robots is still being negotiated. For now, the study offers a simple insight: the more people encounter robots in everyday life, the less mysterious they become. And once the mystery fades, the conversation often changes from fear to curiosity.