When CEO David Rosenberg wanted to take AeroFarms public, he considered a traditional IPO, but soon decided that a merger with a special purpose acquisition company provided a better path to the public markets for his startup, which grows crops in vertical indoor farms.

He soon found a match with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., a $232 million SPAC that went public last November and was looking for a business in the sustainability sector to acquire. In March, the companies announced that AeroFarms would go public via a merger with Spring Valley in a deal valued at $1.2 billion. READ MORE