Tribe Capital Markets Resigns from Tribe Capital Growth Corp I (ATVC) Sponsor

Tribe Capital I (NASDAQ:ATVC) announced in an 8-K this morning that Tribe Capital Markets has resigned from its sponsor and will effectively transfer management of it to Arrow Multi Asset Fund. However, a reason for the change was not provided.

The move is expected to be followed by a management shakeup with Tribe-connected officers including the SPAC’s CEO, CFO and secretary expected to depart. But existing Tribe I Vice President Sumit Mehta and Director Rohit Nanani also serve as executives at Arrow Capital, and therefore may be more likely to stick around.

In addition to contributing Mehta and Nanani to its management, Arrow Capital committed at the time of Tribe I’s IPO to fund up to 30% of the PIPE in any business combination that resulted.

There have been rumblings of SPAC sponsors seeking to sell their vehicles to new teams, but insurance and other complications have stood in the way. Officially, the parties have not yet given an explanation for the changes, but Tribe I initially listed in March 2021 and still has until March 2023 to complete a transaction. This is still an enviable amount of time given that roughly one in six SPACs still searching for a deal have less than six months left. Additionally, Tribe I is a 1/4 warrant structure and IPO’d with 100% in trust, or $10.00 day-one.  Both attractive terms compared to the current market.

Tribe Capital Growth Corp II, this team’s intended second SPAC that had never made it to IPO, had been in registration since March of 2021, but was recently declared abandoned by the SEC.

Nonetheless, the sponsor transition is also likely to see a change in focus for the SPAC, despite Arrow already having a presence before the changes. Tribe Capital is a Silicon Valley-based technology investor with about $540 million under management that uses a quantitative transaction data to hone in on its target list. Among the firm’s most prominent portfolio investments are stakes in crypto exchanges Kraken, FTX and DCC as well as a number of consumer fintech companies.

Arrow, meanwhile, is a boutique asset manager and investment advisor with offices in Dubai and Mauritius. It has primarily focused on the Gulf region to date but is currently expanding into Southeast Asia.