Plano-based SPAC targets direct selling businesses as part of planned $200 million IPO - The Dallas Morning News

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A Plano-based blank check company filed for a $200 million initial stock offering, hoping to target direct selling businesses to take public.

Direct Selling Acquisition plans to seek businesses with values between $500 million and $2 billion. Special acquisition companies, known as SPACs, look for fast-growing companies to merge with and take public. Investors in the SPAC buy shares in the new company and later decide whether to keep the shares or get their initial investment back with interest.

Last year was a record year for SPACs, with 248 deals totaling $83 billion, according to tracking site SPAC Insider. This year, that number is already up to 413 deals, adding up to $121.8 billion.

Direct Selling Acquisition is being led by CEO Dave Wentz, former CEO of Utah-based USANA Health Sciences, a multi-level marketing health products company listed on the NYSE. USANA sells supplements, probiotics, nutrition bars and meals, and powdered energy drinks.

Mike Lohner will serve as CFO, using his background as co-founder and chief strategy officer of Austin-based card-linked offer platform DOSH, which sold in March for $275 million.

Direct Selling Acquisition could not be reached for comment. The company, founded in 2021, plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol DSAQ.U.

Multilevel marketing is big business in Texas, which sees more direct sales activity than any other state, according to the Direct Selling Association. It’s estimated to be a $5 billion-a-year industry with more than 2 million active sellers in the state, according to the association.

AgileThought's Tampa office.

Meanwhile, an Irving-based technology firm goes live on the Nasdaq Tuesday after combining with a SPAC. But the CEO isn’t sugarcoating the SPAC IPO process that’s risen in popularity during the pandemic.

“It was tough,” said Manuel Senderos, CEO of AgileThought. “None of these processes are easy. But going public via a SPAC is not a straightforward, easy process.”

AgileThought, a company that helps businesses go digital, is backed by blank-check company LIV Capital Acquisition Corp., headquartered in Mexico. It will trade under the ticker AGIL.

Senderos said his best piece of advice for other companies looking to go the SPAC route is to focus on the private investment round known as a PIPE rather than the public fundraising.

“Don’t count on that money because it’s uncertain,” he said. “You don’t know until the last minute how much you’re going to get.”

AgileThought plans to use the additional funds to grow its business, with a goal of hiring 50 new employees per week in Texas, Florida and Latin America. This has been tough as the market for high-end developers in the U.S. is tight, Senderos said.

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