Web3 Storage and Compute Infrastructure Provider W3BCLOUD to Go Public via $1.25B SPAC Deal

The deal will value W3BCLOUD, a Web3 infrastructure provider, at $1.25 billion.
Image source: Business Wire

Quick take:

  • W3BCLOUD provides storage and compute infrastructure to power Web3’s decentralised economy.
  • The agreement will accelerate W3BCLOUD’s platform to drive adoption by the blockchain developer community.
  • Social Leverage Acquisition Corp I has expertise in growing and guiding startups, which will help W3BCLOUD continue to scale rapidly.

W3BCLOUD, a storage and compute infrastructure provider for Web3 and joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), ConsenSys and its founders, today announced an agreement to go public via a merger with blank cheque firm, Social Leverage Acquisition Corp I.

The deal values the combined company at an enterprise value of $1.25 billion including debt. Formed for the purpose of merging with a private company and taking it public, SLAC raised gross proceeds of $345 million in its initial public offering and was listed on the NYSE on February 12, 2021.

SLAC is sponsored by Social Leverage, an early-stage technology-focused venture capital firm that has invested in over 400 founder-led teams including Web3 companies such as Robinhood. It also has expertise in growing and guiding startups, which will help W3BCLOUD continue to scale rapidly.

The transaction proceeds will be used to accelerate W3BCLOUD’s investments in storage and compute infrastructure, including expanding its data centre footprint and investing in the Web3 developer ecosystem.

Additionally, the company expects to benefit from emerging Web3 use cases such as blockchain gaming, NFTs, DeFi, and the metaverse, to further reinforce its position as a Web3 infrastructure provider and diversify revenue.

“This transaction allows us to expand our support to Web3 developers and scale with the Web3 economy’s anticipated significant growth. I could not be more excited by the depth of experience and knowledge Social Leverage will bring to our company. With the added benefit of SLAC’s expertise and continued technical support from AMD and ConsenSys, I believe that W3BCLOUD will emerge as the leading dedicated platform to support the Web3 economy,” said Sami Issa, CEO of W3BCLOUD. 

W3BCLOUD will receive up to $345 million in proceeds from SLAC’s cash in trust and commitments for $40 million from ConsenSys, SK Inc. and others for new investments, as well as an agreement with AMD for an additional equity investment of $10 million.

Upon closing of the transaction, the combined entity will continue to be led by Sami Issa as CEO and Wael Aburida as CFO. Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys and co-founder of Ethereum, will remain on W3BCLOUD’s Board of Directors. SLAC’s chairman, Paul Grinberg, will join the board of the new combined company.

“We are in the early days of the establishment of a new trust foundation enabled by decentralized protocols which undergird Web3 and its many applications. This technology is powering a paradigm shift from the Age of Silos to the Age of Community,” said Joseph Lubin.”W3BCLOUD is pioneering a next-generation decentralized hardware/software compute and storage platform for Web3 to better serve the developer community and end users, by advancing decentralization of the hardware layers of Web3 upon which the software innovations of the past decade are critically reliant.”

Following this announcement, the parties intend to raise additional capital of up to $100 million.

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