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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Quantara AI launches a continuous platform designed to estimate the financial impact of cyber risk as companies move beyond periodic assessments
Updated
March 17, 2026 1:02 AM
A person tightrope walking between two cliffs. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
Cyber risk is increasingly treated as a financial issue. Boards want to know how much a cyber incident could cost the company, how it could affect earnings, and whether current security spending is justified.
Yet many organizations still measure cyber risk through periodic reviews. These assessments are often conducted once or twice a year, supported by consultants and spreadsheet models. By the time the report reaches senior leadership, the company’s systems may have changed and new threats may have emerged. The way risk is measured does not always match how quickly it evolves.
This gap is where Quantara AI is positioning its new platform. Quantara AI, a Boise-based cybersecurity startup, has introduced what it describes as the industry’s first persistent AI-powered cyber risk solution. The system is designed to run continuously rather than rely on occasional assessments.
The company’s core argument is straightforward: not every security weakness carries the same financial consequence. Instead of ranking issues only by technical severity, the platform analyzes active threats, identifies which company systems are exposed, and estimates how much money a successful attack could cost. It uses statistical models, including Value at Risk (VaR), to calculate potential losses. It also estimates how specific security improvements could reduce that projected loss.
The timing aligns with a broader market shift. International Data Corporation (IDC) projects that by 2028, 40% of enterprises will adopt AI-based cyber risk quantification platforms. These tools convert security data into financial estimates that can guide budgeting and investment decisions. The forecast reflects growing pressure on security leaders to present risk in terms that boards and regulators understand.
Traditional compliance and risk management systems often focus on meeting regulatory standards. Vulnerability management programs typically score weaknesses based on technical characteristics. Consultant-led risk studies provide detailed analysis, but they are usually performed at set intervals. In fast-changing threat environments, that model can leave decision-makers working with outdated information.
Quantara’s platform attempts to replace that periodic process with continuous measurement. It brings together threat data, internal system information and financial modeling in one system. The goal is to show, at any given time, which specific weaknesses could lead to the largest financial losses.
Cyber risk quantification as a concept is not new. What is changing is the expectation that these calculations be updated regularly and tied directly to financial decision-making. As cyber incidents carry clearer monetary consequences, companies are looking for ways to measure exposure with greater precision.
The broader question is whether enterprises will shift fully toward continuous, AI-driven risk analysis or continue relying on periodic external assessments. What is clear is that cybersecurity discussions are moving closer to financial reporting — and tools that estimate potential loss in dollar terms are becoming central to that shift.