At its heart, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) is a business created for the sole purpose of pooling funds that will be used to buy a private company. They are usually formed by investors who are entrepreneurs with previous experience operating successful companies, though there have been notable exceptions involving celebrity investors. SPACs don’t make any products or offer any services. The only assets a SPAC has are the funds provided by private investors to create the company and the proceeds from its initial public offering (IPO). Because SPACs aren't required to disclose any information about potential acquisition targets when filing for an IPO, they are commonly referred to as “blank-check” companies. After a SPAC’s IPO, individual investors can purchase stock in the company on a public stock exchange. The goal of a SPAC is to then acquire (or merge with) one or more promising private. After the acquisition, the SPAC is usually listed under the name of one of the acquired companies, or under a new name, after undergoing its de-SPAC process.