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SPACs Rebound as AI Data Center Funding Route, Cohen Says
Betsy Cohen says SPACs are back as a funding route for AI data center startups. 20 mergers completed this year, 110 pending. Investor discipline has improved since 2021.
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Blank-check companies are staging a comeback as a funding vehicle for startups tied to the artificial intelligence data-center build-out, said Betsy Cohen, a veteran special purpose acquisition company dealmaker.
The Cohen Circle LLC co-founder told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that tech startups focused on powering data centers or developing faster quantum computers see SPACs as a better option than traditional initial public offerings. That marks a shift from the 1990s, when SPACs first supplied capital to the steel industry.
“We now have a whole different group of companies that need capital, whether it’s data centers or nuclear stations or AI or involve anything that you might think of that has a deep capital and continuing capital need,” Cohen said.
The numbers back the pivot. SPAC mergers hit an all-time high in 2021 with 199 deals. That figure plunged to 43 in 2025. Already this year, 20 such mergers have been completed and 110 more are pending, according to SPAC Research.
Regulatory changes are also helping. Anna Pinedo, a partner at law firm Mayer Brown, said deals by SPAC companies will benefit from recent SEC rule adjustments. The commission has revised disclosure requirements and liability standards for blank-check vehicles in recent years.
Investor discipline has improved since the 2021 frenzy, said Christine McNerney, a portfolio manager at Periscope Capital. “We don’t need to go back to that,” she said. “We really learned in 2021 that credibility matters much more than hype, so I think the SPAC market is at a healthy point right now and this is probably a good level for it to stay at.”
The pipeline suggests the activity will continue. With 110 pending mergers, the SPAC revival is feeding the capital needs of the AI infrastructure build-out – a sector that requires sustained funding for data centers, power generation, and hardware development.