Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have no commercial operations. They are formed strictly to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO) that it can then use to acquire or merge with another company. After a period of relative obscurity—they were most popular in the lead-up to the 2007-to-2008 financial crisis—SPACs had a remarkable resurgence in the early 2020s, with a record-breaking number of SPAC IPOs and mergers, before quieting down in the mid-2020s.