The SPAC market returns to its marquee gathering—the 9th Annual SPAC Conference, June 9–10, 2026 in Rye, New York—in a fundamentally different mood than a year ago. After 122 SPACs raised $22.5 billion in 2025, more than doubling 2024's 57 deals and $8.7 billion, the asset class staged its most active year since the 2021 peak and now represents roughly 38% of the overall IPO market. The conversation has shifted "from caution to optimism," in the words of Gallagher's Yelena Dunaevsky. Yet beneath the rebound lie unresolved tensions: aggregate redemption rates still routinely exceed 95%, de-SPAC completions lag IPO issuance, and a wave of first-time sponsors raises questions about discipline. This preview maps the themes most likely to dominate the agenda—and what they mean for sponsors, targets, and investors.
A SPAC conference is a sentiment barometer for an entire corner of the capital markets. What sponsors, bankers, lawyers, insurers, and institutional investors choose to debate on stage signals where capital will flow, which deal structures will get financed, and which risks the market is actually pricing. For the founder-led companies and acquirers Epik Advisory advises, that signal is strategically useful: SPACs are a viable exit and liquidity path, and the terms on which they operate—redemption dynamics, PIPE availability, regulatory tone—directly affect whether a de-SPAC is a credible alternative to a traditional IPO or a sale.
The 2026 gathering matters more than most because the market is at an inflection point. The numbers are strong enough to attract new entrants but carry enough memory of 2021's excesses to warrant caution. How the industry talks about discipline, financing, and structure this June will foreshadow whether the resurgence becomes a durable rebuild or a repeat of the boom-bust cycle.
A market that has regained its footing. The recovery is statistically unambiguous. SPAC IPO activity climbed from roughly 7–8 deals per month in 2024 to about 10–11 per month in 2025, and aggregate funds raised tripled year over year. In the first four months of 2026, approximately 80 SPACs completed IPOs, and roughly 60 more made initial public filings—signaling a pipeline that sponsors expect to stay full. Ellenoff Grossman & Schole founder Doug Ellenoff has suggested the market "could exceed 200 SPAC IPOs in 2026."
A healthier supply-and-demand balance. A defining feature of the current cycle is that the universe of private companies open to a SPAC route now exceeds 200, while fewer than 200 active SPACs are competing for them. That balance—the inverse of 2021, when too many SPACs chased too few targets—gives sponsors room to negotiate constructively. Many private-equity and venture-backed companies are "well past their expected sell-by dates and are actively seeking liquidity," a dynamic that keeps quality targets in play.
Redemptions remain the central structural puzzle. Aggregate redemption rates "often exceeding 95%" remain the headline risk, though the fourth-quarter 2025 average moderated to roughly 69%, with a handful of deals under 40% and even one or two 0% redemption transactions late in the year. As Dunaevsky observes, the 95% figure "masks an important nuance"—many current SPAC IPO investors "go into the market never intending to remain invested post-merger," treating a pre-merger redemption as the plan rather than a failure. The practical consequence: committed financing matters more than the headline redemption number.
PIPE markets have reopened—but selectively. Private investment in public equity is flowing again, with a growing number of $10 PIPEs priced to match the SPAC share price supporting de-SPAC closings. Several recent deals closed successfully despite heavy redemptions because PIPE capital was fully committed. Still, the bar is high; as market participants emphasize, it remains "up to the quality of the business, the management, and the valuation." This is the theme most likely to recur across panels: financing is back, but it is earned, not assumed.
A more constructive regulatory tone. Perhaps the most underappreciated shift, in Ellenoff's framing, is regulatory. Under the current SEC leadership, the posture has moved "from adversarial to collaborative," with renewed emphasis on capital formation. Rules and compliance expectations remain, but the climate has encouraged participants to explore structures and pursue transactions with less fear of automatic condemnation.
For targets weighing a de-SPAC, financing certainty trumps redemption optics. The lesson of 2025 is that a deal can close successfully even with redemptions in the nineties—provided PIPE or other committed capital is locked early. Boards and CFOs evaluating a SPAC partner should focus diligence on the sponsor's financing relationships and PIPE pipeline, not merely on trust size. A sponsor with a credible, institutionally anchored financing plan is worth more than one with a large trust and no committed capital.
For sponsors, bifurcation is the operative word. The market is differentiating sharply between serial sponsors with established pipelines and the new wave of first-time sponsors. That bifurcation, as Dunaevsky notes, "isn't a flaw—it's a sign of a maturing market that's differentiating based on track record." First-time sponsors should expect investors to scrutinize their ability to source targets and secure financing; serial sponsors will continue to enjoy better deal economics and stronger investor confidence.
For investors, risk pricing has improved—and so has insurance. SPAC-related securities class actions fell to roughly 2% of all filings in 2025, down from 8–10% in prior years, and about 45% were dismissed at the motion-to-dismiss stage. The improvement has made the SPAC directors-and-officers insurance market "a rare buyer's market," with premiums at historic lows. Investors and independent directors benefit, but the same dynamic—carriers cutting price while trimming coverage—means policy quality, not just premium, deserves attention.
First, whether discipline holds as volume rises. The recurring caution from market veterans is to "steer away from the exuberance" of 2020–2021. As more sponsor teams compete for attractive targets in 2026, realistic valuation and disciplined execution become the differentiators. We are watching for signs—on stage and in deal terms—that the market is internalizing that lesson.
Second, sector rotation. AI-related businesses, data centers, renewables, mining, and rare earths dominated 2025 deal flow, with healthcare and life sciences quietly reemerging. The most striking 2025 theme—the digital asset treasury (DAT) strategy of contributing large crypto holdings into combinations—has cooled with crypto volatility. Whether DAT revives or new themes take its place will signal where sponsor attention is heading.
Third, the de-SPAC completion gap. With about 40 de-SPACs completed as of early December 2025 (down from 73 in 2024) but more than 100 combinations announced, the pipeline looks healthy. We are watching whether announced deals actually close in 2026 at the pace issuance implies.
Fourth, litigation timing. Few expect a near-term surge in SPAC-related litigation, but as deal frequency picks up, new securities class actions may emerge in the second half of 2026—a lag worth monitoring for anyone underwriting D&O risk.
Companies considering a de-SPAC should attend to—or follow the output of—the financing and redemption panels above all, and should evaluate prospective sponsors on committed-capital relationships rather than trust size. Sponsors should arrive prepared to demonstrate track record and a realistic target thesis, recognizing that investors are now differentiating on exactly those dimensions. Investors and directors should treat the soft D&O market as an opportunity to secure coverage but should scrutinize policy terms, not just price. And all participants should read the regulatory tone as constructive but not permissive: the climate is friendlier, the rules remain.
The 2026 SPAC Conference convenes a market that has earned back its confidence without entirely resolving its contradictions. Issuance has doubled, financing has reopened, litigation has eased, and the regulatory mood has warmed—yet redemptions remain high and the new sponsor cohort is unproven. The throughline of this year's agenda will be discipline: whether a resurgent market can grow on the strength of committed financing, credible sponsors, and realistic valuations rather than the momentum that undid the last cycle. For the operators, acquirers, and investors Epik Advisory serves, the conference is less a spectacle than a signal—and the signal to watch for is whether optimism is being matched by rigor.
Matthew Malriat, CPA is Founder & Principal of Epik Advisory, a boutique advisory firm serving founder-led businesses, acquisition entrepreneurs, and growth companies. His experience spans public company reporting, SEC filings, and complex M&A transactions, including service as CEO and CFO of a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and as a Director within KPMG's Deal Advisory practice. He advises operators, investors, and boards on capital-markets readiness, SBA-financed acquisitions, transaction support, and strategic finance leadership. Matthew combines Big Four technical rigor with hands-on operating experience, helping clients navigate financing, governance, and value-creation decisions across the full transaction lifecycle.
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