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Market research · November 3, 2026

AI SPAC Merger Statistics: 2026 Report

By Darin ten Bruggencate, Founder, AI Industry Reviews

Our analysts built a sample of 29 AI companies that became publicly traded through a SPAC merger between 2021 and October 2026. We took each deal's announced valuation and redemptions from SEC filings and tracked share prices, reverse splits, bankruptcies, and enforcement actions. We also read 1,061 SPAC IPO prospectuses filed since 2021 to measure how many new SPACs say they are targeting AI.

A special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is a shell company that raises money from investors in an IPO, parks the cash in a trust account at about $10 a share, and then looks for a private company to merge with. When the merger closes, a step known as a de-SPAC, the private company becomes publicly traded without a traditional IPO. SPAC shareholders get a vote on the deal and can take their $10 back instead of staying in. AI companies used this route heavily during the 2021 boom, and after a two-year lull, new SPACs are again raising money and saying they want to buy AI businesses. The record of the earlier AI deals shows what that pitch has delivered so far.

In the following sections, we break down AI de-SPACs by year, their announced valuations, redemption rates, share prices against the $10 trust value, bankruptcies and enforcement actions, and the AI share of the new SPAC wave.

How Many AI Companies Went Public Through a SPAC

This section counts the completed AI de-SPACs in our sample by the year the merger closed and shows where each company stands now.

A company is included if its name includes AI or its merger announcement described its core product as AI-based. The 29 deals are a defined sample, not a census (Source 1).

Completed AI de-SPACs in our sample by closing year

Source: AI Industry Reviews analysis of SEC EDGAR closing filings and Form 25 notices, Oct 2026 (Source 1).

Source: AI Industry Reviews analysis of SEC EDGAR closing filings and Form 25 notices, Oct 2026 (Source 1).

Key Findings

• AI deals kept closing through the SPAC slump. Our sample has six in both 2023 and 2024, and SPACInsider counted only 43 de-SPAC closings across all sectors in 2025 (Source 4).
• Seven of the 29 companies are no longer publicly traded on Nasdaq or the NYSE. Three went bankrupt, three were removed from Nasdaq, and SoftBank Group bought Berkshire Grey in 2023 (Source 10).
• Announced deals can still fall apart. Churchill Capital Corp IX ended its merger agreement with PlusAI in April 2026 (Source 11), so watchers of the new wave should count closings, not announcements.

How Much AI De-SPACs Were Valued When They Announced

This section compares the headline valuations that AI companies and their SPACs announced when they agreed to merge.

Each figure is the value stated in the merger announcement filed with the SEC. Deals quote enterprise value (EV) or equity value, so the figures show what investors were told at signing (Source 1).

Announced valuations of completed AI de-SPACs

Source: Merger announcements on SEC EDGAR (Sources 1 and 12).

Source: AI Industry Reviews analysis of SEC 8-K and 425 press exhibits, and Merlin's closing release (Sources 1 and 12).

Key Findings

• Deal sizes fell after the boom. The median announced value was $1.275 billion for the 10 deals that closed in 2021 and 2022, $320 million for the 12 that closed in 2023 and 2024, and $614 million for the seven that closed in 2025 and 2026 (Source 1).
• A headline valuation is set before shareholders decide whether to stay in. For investors in a new AI SPAC, it says little about how much cash the company will receive, which depends on redemptions.

How Many SPAC Shareholders Redeemed at AI Mergers

This section shows how many SPAC shareholders took their money back instead of holding shares in the merged company.

At the merger vote, each public shareholder can redeem shares for a slice of the trust, usually a little over $10 a share. Houlihan Capital's quarterly reports, based on SPACInsider data, track the median rate across all US de-SPAC closings (Source 5).

Median redemption rate at de-SPAC closing, all sectors

Source: Houlihan Capital quarterly SPAC reports, using SPACInsider data (Source 5).

Source: Houlihan Capital quarterly SPAC reports, using SPACInsider data, Q3 2023 to Q2 2026 (Source 5).

Key Findings

• The median has stayed above 90% in every quarter with a published figure since Q4 2024, while quarterly closings fell from 29 in Q3 2023 to between 8 and 12.
• High redemptions push the funding burden onto other investors. A company that loses most of the trust relies on PIPE investors, convertible notes, or payments to holders not to redeem, which can dilute shareholders after the merger.

We could calculate the closing-vote redemption rate for nine of the 29 AI deals from figures in their SPAC's filings.

Closing-vote redemption rates for AI de-SPACs with complete filing data

Source: AI Industry Reviews calculation from closing 8-K filings (Sources 1 and 12).

Key Findings

• Seven of the nine deals lost more than 80% of the trust at the vote. Boost Run is the exception: no Willow Lane shareholder redeemed (Source 12).
• For AI companies weighing a SPAC merger, the trust sets an upper limit on the cash raised. The cash a company can count on comes from committed financing.

How AI De-SPAC Shares Have Performed Against the $10 Trust Value

This section compares what one original SPAC share is worth today with the $10 a share investors paid in the SPAC's IPO.

We adjusted each latest price for reverse splits after the merger, so the figure is the current value of one share from closing day. Three bankrupt companies and Berkshire Grey have no current price (Sources 1 and 7).

Value of one original SPAC share, Oct 22 to 23, 2026

Source: AI Industry Reviews analysis of Yahoo Finance prices and split history (Sources 1 and 7). Jet.AI's value also reflects a 10,548-for-1,000 adjustment in July 2026.

Source: AI Industry Reviews analysis of Yahoo Finance prices and split history, Oct 2026 (Sources 1 and 7).

Key Findings

• None of the 25 companies with a current price is worth $10 per original share. The median is $0.81, and 15 of the 25 are below $1.
• Six companies have done reverse splits of 1-for-20 or more since closing, usually to stay above an exchange's minimum price.
• Redeeming at the vote, for about $10 or more a share, would have beaten holding in all 25 deals with a current price. For holders of new AI SPACs, the redemption price is the benchmark the merged stock has to beat.

How Many AI De-SPACs Went Bankrupt, Lost Their Exchange Trading, or Faced Enforcement

This section lists the AI de-SPACs in our sample that went bankrupt, were removed from an exchange, or faced government action.

We counted a company as removed from an exchange only when Nasdaq or the NYSE filed a Form 25 for its common stock. Notices that covered only warrants are not counted (Source 1).

Bankruptcies, exchange removals, and enforcement actions among AI de-SPACs

Source: 8-K and Form 25 filings on SEC EDGAR, SEC releases, and the EDNY indictment (Sources 1, 6, 8, and 9).

Key Findings

• All six closed their mergers between 2021 and early 2025. Three lost their exchange trading without a bankruptcy and now trade over the counter.
• The government cases center on what companies told investors. The SEC found Presto falsely claimed its drive-thru voice AI removed the need for human order-taking. It alleges Near's former CEO and CFO overstated revenue by an average of 27%, at least $37.3 million in total (Sources 8 and 9).
• AI claims made to win a merger vote can be examined years later. The Presto order covers statements from November 2021 to May 2023, starting with its merger announcement.

How Many New SPACs Are Targeting AI in the 2025 to 2026 Revival

This section shows how many new SPACs have raised money since the 2021 peak and how many of them say they want to buy an AI company.

SPACanalytics counted 144 SPAC IPOs in 2025 and 157 so far in 2026, up from 31 in 2023. SPACInsider's full-year 2025 count is also 144, raising $30.4 billion (Sources 3 and 4).

To measure the AI share, we read every SPAC IPO prospectus (Form 424B4) filed from 2021 through Oct 22, 2026, and counted a SPAC as AI-focused when it says it intends to focus on, target, or pursue AI or machine learning businesses (Source 1).

US SPAC IPOs and the share targeting AI

Source: SPACanalytics for IPO counts, proceeds, and share of US IPOs; AI Industry Reviews analysis of SEC Form 424B4 filings for the AI share (Sources 1 and 3).

Source: SPACanalytics SPAC IPO statistics, accessed Oct 23, 2026 (Source 3).

Source: AI Industry Reviews analysis of SEC EDGAR Form 424B4 filings by SPACs (SIC 6770), 2021 to Oct 22, 2026 (Source 1).

Key Findings

• SPACs raised more in 2025 and 2026 than in any year since 2021, but each year's proceeds are under a fifth of the 2021 total.
• AI has become a much more common pitch. In 2026, some SPACs tie their whole search to it: Southport Acquisition Corp. II says it intends to focus on the artificial intelligence sector, and K2 Capital Acquisition Corp says it will pursue humanoid robotics and physical AI (Source 1).
• The new money has not yet turned into AI mergers. Houlihan Capital counted 186 SPACs still searching for a target at the end of 2025, with $34.9 billion in trust, and technology made up 23.7% of that capital (Source 5).

What AI De-SPAC Results Mean for the New SPAC Wave

For investors, the record of the first AI de-SPAC wave is mixed at best. A SPAC share starts at about $10 with the option to get that money back, and at the merger vote, most holders now take it. Those who stayed in through the 2021 to 2025 deals in our sample have, with few exceptions, lost most of that value.

For AI companies, a SPAC merger is still a faster way to become publicly traded than a traditional IPO, but the trust rarely arrives intact. The best results on paper, such as Boost Run's, come from recent deals whose prices have had little time to settle.

The revival brings a larger group of SPACs openly searching for AI targets, backed by billions of dollars in trust. Their results will depend on whether sponsors can find AI businesses with enough revenue to support the valuations announced at signing, a test many of the earlier deals failed. So if you are weighing an AI SPAC, compare the announced valuation, the expected redemptions, and the committed financing against the price you would get by redeeming at the vote.

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