Open Lending Announces SPAC Merger with Nebula Acquisition Corp

On January 6, 2020, Open Lending announced a definitive merger agreement with Nebula Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, to take the fintech lending platform public. Open Lending provides its Lenders Protection lending-enablement platform to banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions, helping them expand auto lending to near-prime and non-prime borrowers. The platform uses proprietary data analytics and risk modeling to facilitate lending decisions and includes a default insurance component.

The SPAC merger provided Open Lending access to public capital markets to scale its bank-fintech partnership model. The transaction closed in June 2020, with Open Lending beginning to trade on the Nasdaq. The deal exemplified the growing trend of fintech companies that embed their technology within traditional banking institutions pursuing public listings via SPAC vehicles.

Financial terms reflected typical SPAC structures with trust capital and potential earn-out provisions.