Taboola is the most recent organization pursuing a public listing through a special purpose acquisition company – more frequently referred to as a SPAC.

To accomplish this, the company will combine with ION Acquisition Corp., which became publicly traded in 2020 with the intention of funding the acquisition of an Israeli technology firm (as reported by Haaretz last month, Taboola was engaged in discussions with ION). The completion of this transaction is anticipated in the second quarter, and the resulting company will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker TBLA.

Established in 2007, Taboola provides the technology for content recommendation widgets (and the advertising featured within those widgets) for approximately 9,000 websites, serving publishers such as CNBC, NBC News, Business Insider, The Independent and El Mundo. The company reports reaching 516 million daily active users and collaborating with over 13,000 advertisers.

The company had previously intended to merge with rival Outbrain, but this agreement was terminated last autumn. Sources attributed the cancellation to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a perceived incompatibility in corporate cultures, and challenges related to regulatory approvals.

Taboola’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Adam Singolda (pictured above, left), shared with me that this prior situation did not directly result in the SPAC agreement. However, he stated, “I have consistently aimed for a public offering,” which was not feasible while the previous merger was under consideration. With the deal with Outbrain dissolved, and 2020 proving to be a successful year for Taboola – projecting $1.2 billion in revenue, including $375 million in revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (ex-TAC), and exceeding $100 million in adjusted EBITDA – the timing felt appropriate, and ION appeared to be the ideal partner.

“We are confident that Taboola is a leading force in open web recommendations and is well-positioned to provide an alternative to the dominant, closed platforms,” stated Gilad Shany, CEO of ION, in a press release. “Our search led us to a global technology leader with strong roots in Israel, and we found that in Taboola. The company’s established, long-term relationships with numerous digital properties on the open web, its direct connections to advertisers, its extensive global reach, and its proven artificial intelligence technology enable Taboola to deliver substantial value to its partners while also maintaining favorable unit economics as the company expands.”

This deal establishes Taboola’s value at $2.6 billion. The company intends to raise a total of $545 million through this transaction, including $285 million in private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing secured from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baron Capital Group, funds managed by Hedosophia, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds, and other investors.

Singolda indicated that the company plans to allocate $100 million to research and development this year, and he expressed his desire to broaden the technology’s application into areas like e-commerce and television advertising, with the objective of extending “beyond the confines of the web browser.” On a larger scale, he conveyed his ambition for Taboola to become “a robust public company that advocates for the open web.”

“The open web represents a $64 billion advertising market [based on Taboola’s estimations], yet there isn’t a comparable entity to Google for the open web,” he explained.

While Google frequently discusses similar concepts, Singolda contended that, unlike Taboola, Google possesses consumer-facing products like search and YouTube that directly compete with other publishers for user attention. “Taboola does not operate in the consumer business … We are dedicated to serving our partners, and it is central to our identity to foster audience growth, engagement, and revenue.”