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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Examining how robots are moving from demonstrations to daily use.
Updated
January 28, 2026 5:53 PM
An industrial robotic arm capable of autonomous welding. PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK
CES 2026 did not frame robotics as a distant future or a technological spectacle. Instead, it highlighted machines designed for the slow, practical work of fitting into human systems. Across the show floor, robots were no longer performing for attention but being shaped by real-world constraints—space, safety, fatigue and repetition.
They appeared in factories, homes, emergency settings and industrial sites, each responding to a specific kind of human limitation. Together, these four robots reveal how robotics is being redefined: not as a replacement for people, but as infrastructure that quietly takes on work humans are least meant to carry alone.
Hyundai Motor unveiled its electric humanoid robot, Atlas, during a media day on January 5, 2026, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas as part of CES 2026. Developed with Boston Dynamics, Hyundai’s U.S.-based robotics subsidiary, Atlas was presented in two forms: a research prototype and a commercial model designed for real factory environments.
Shown under the theme “AI Robotics, Beyond the Lab to Life: Partnering Human Progress,” Atlas is designed to work alongside humans rather than replace them. The premise is straightforward—robots take on physically demanding and repetitive tasks such as sorting and assembly, while people focus on work requiring judgment, creativity and decision-making.
Built for industrial use, the commercial version of Atlas is designed to adapt quickly, with Hyundai stating it can learn new tasks within a day. Its adult-sized humanoid form features 56 degrees of freedom, enabling flexible, human-like movement. Tactile sensors in its hands and a 360-degree vision system support spatial awareness and precise operation.
Atlas is also engineered for demanding conditions. It can lift up to 50 kilograms, operate in temperatures ranging from –20°C to 40°C and is waterproof, making it suitable for challenging factory settings.
Looking ahead, Hyundai expects Atlas to begin with parts sorting and sequencing by 2028, move into assembly by 2030 and later take on precision tasks that require sustained physical effort and focus.
Widemount’s Smart Firefighting Robot is designed to operate in environments that are difficult and dangerous for humans to enter. Developed by Widemount Dynamics, a spinout from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the robot is built to support emergency teams during fires, particularly in enclosed and smoke-filled spaces.
The robot can move through buildings and industrial facilities even when visibility is near zero. Rather than relying on cameras or GPS, it uses radar-based mapping to understand its surroundings and determine a safe path forward. This allows it to continue operating when smoke, heat or debris would normally restrict access.
As it approaches a fire, the robot analyses the burning object. Its onboard AI helps identify the material involved and selects an appropriate extinguishing method. Sensors simultaneously assess flame intensity and send real-time updates to command centres, giving responders clearer situational awareness.
When actively fighting a fire, the robot can aim directly at the source and deploy extinguishing agents autonomously. The system continuously adjusts its actions based on incoming sensor data, reducing the need for constant human intervention during high-risk situations.
At CES 2026, LG Electronics offered a glimpse into how household work could gradually shift from people to machines. The company introduced LG CLOiD, an AI-powered home robot designed to manage everyday chores by working directly with connected appliances within LG’s ThinQ ecosystem.
Designed for indoor living spaces, CLOiD features a compact upper body with two articulated arms, a head unit and a wheeled base that enables steady movement across floors. Its torso can tilt to adjust height, allowing it to reach items placed low or on kitchen counters. The arms and hands are built for careful handling, enabling the robot to grip common household objects rather than heavy tools. The head also functions as a mobile control unit, housing cameras, sensors, a display and voice interaction capabilities for communication and monitoring.
In practice, CLOiD acts as a task coordinator. It can retrieve items from appliances, operate ovens and washing machines and manage laundry cycles from start to finish, including folding and stacking clothes. By connecting multiple devices through the ThinQ system, the robot turns separate appliances into a single, coordinated workflow.
These capabilities are supported by LG’s Physical AI system. CLOiD uses vision to recognise objects and interpret its surroundings, language processing to understand instructions and action control to execute tasks step by step. Together, these systems allow the robot to follow routines, respond to user input and adjust task execution over time.
Doosan Robotics introduced Scan & Go at CES 2026, an AI-driven robotic system designed to automate large-scale surface repair and inspection. The solution targets environments with complex, irregular surfaces that are difficult to pre-program, such as aircraft structures, wind turbine blades and large industrial installations.
Scan & Go operates by scanning surfaces on site and building an understanding of their shape in real time. Instead of relying on detailed digital models or manual coding, the system plans its movements based on live data. This enables it to adapt to variations in size, curvature and surface condition without extensive setup.
The underlying technology combines 3D sensing with AI-based motion planning. The system interprets surface data, generates tool paths and refines its actions as work progresses. In practical terms, this reduces manual intervention while maintaining consistency across large work areas.
By handling surface preparation and inspection tasks that are time-consuming and physically demanding, Scan & Go is positioned as a support tool for industrial teams operating at scale.
Taken together, these robots signal a clear shift in how machines are being designed and deployed. Across factories, homes, emergency sites and industrial infrastructure, robotics is moving beyond demonstrations and into practical roles that support human work.
The unifying theme is not replacement, but relief—robots taking on tasks that are repetitive, hazardous or physically demanding. CES 2026 suggests that robotics is evolving from spectacle to utility, with a growing focus on systems that adapt to real environments, respond to genuine constraints and integrate into everyday workflows.