BarkBox is headed to Wall Street.
Barkbox Inc. is going public via a merger with Northern Star Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: STIC.U), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. The transaction values BarkBox at about $1.6 billion.
The company, which serves over 1 million dogs monthly through BarkBox and Super Chewer subscriptions and broad retail distribution of its products, will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “BARK.”
Barkbox was founded in 2012 by Matt Meeker, Henrik Werdelin and Carly Strife.
“We are thrilled to partner with Northern Star as we enter our next phase of growth,” Meeker said. “We started BARK because we are obsessed with making dogs and the people who love them happy. As a result of this merger, we will accelerate our ability to scale the BARK platform worldwide, add joy to the millions of dogs and families who love our products through our monthly subscription service and grow our omni-channel distribution.
Advertisement
“We are energized by the numerous growth opportunities ahead, which include expanding our product offerings and experiences, enhancing our robust customer engagement platform though the use of artificial intelligence and creating lasting memories for dog lovers.”
Barkbox’s products are distributed directly to consumers via its BarkBox, Super Chewer and BARK Bright Dental subscriptions and are available through Amazon.com as well as 23,000 retail locations including Target, Petco, PetSmart and Costco, among others.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, Barkbox projects revenue of about $365 million and gross profit of about $221 million.
The merger is expected to be completed early in the second quarter of 2021.
Additional details of the transaction:
“The combined company expects to receive up to $454 million of gross cash proceeds at closing, assuming no redemptions of Northern Star’s existing public stockholders, including an upsized fully-committed $200 million private placement of common stock (the “PIPE Offering”) at $10.00 per share led by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Senator Investment Group, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds, and affiliates of the Santo Domingo Group (advised by Quadrant Capital Advisors, Inc.), among other top-tier institutional investors. All BARK shareholders and management are retaining 100% of their equity in the combined company. The proceeds are expected to be used to accelerate the growth of existing and new product lines, invest in staffing, marketing and engineering personnel and capabilities, and partially reduce debt obligations.
Advertisement
“Northern Star’s units will be able to be separated voluntarily by holders commencing on or about December 18, 2020.”
