GPU cloud startup Boost Run to go public via de-SPAC merger – News

Artificial intelligence cloud infrastructure startup Boost Run LLC said today it’s planning to go public through a de-SPAC merger with the publicly traded special-purpose acquisition company Willow Lane Acquisition Corp., with its shares set to list on the Nasdaq exchange later this month.

The de-SPAC listing process is an alternative to a traditional SPAC merger, which is where investors create a so-called special-purpose acquisition company, raise money from investors through an initial public offering, then use it to acquire a privately held startup. After the acquisition, the two companies merge under the startup’s name before going public.

De-SPAC listings use a different process, where a private company merges with an existing public shell company that was formed as a SPAC. Once the merger has been completed and approved by shareholders, the private company becomes publicly traded through the already-listed SPAC.

The merger is likely to entice retail investors who are keen to get in on the AI boom. Boost Run is one of a growing number of cloud infrastructure providers that’s dedicated to AI workloads, offering access to competitively-priced servers powered by Nvidia Corp.’s graphics processing units, which support high-performance training and inference.

Boost Run specializes in so-called bare-metal infrastructure, which comes without a virtualization layer pre-installed, enabling more customization and higher performance. Its servers are hosted within certified data centers, providing a flexible hardware platform for AI applications. It uses infrastructure-as-code to simplify the provisioning and management of its cloud resources, which can help teams to deploy AI applications faster.

One of the biggest advantages of Boost Run’s platform is its pricing, with its GPU-based servers typically about 40% to 60% lower cost than major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services Inc. and Google Cloud. It also provides on-demand access, so there’s no need to reserve server infrastructure ahead of time or pay upfront.

Boost Run says it has a deep understanding of pricing curves, which makes the cost of its service more predictable for customers too. It also claims “favorable access” to numerous top-tier data center providers and server suppliers, ensuring suitable resources are always available to customers.

The company, which launched in 2023 and is led by its founder and Chief Executive Andrew Karos, believes it’s going to see big demand for its AI cloud servers in the coming years, and is forecasting revenue growth of 250% this year, compared to the previous 12 months. In its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it claims to be highly capital efficient, converting about 70% of its capital expenditure to revenue, driving close to 80% in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

The proposed merger will see the combined company, to be known as Boost Run Inc., valued at $614 million. It’ll receive funds to the tune of $112 million that’s currently held in Willow Lane’s trust account, which will be used to expand its operations, add more GPU types and accelerate its revenue growth. Once the transaction closes later this month, Boost Run will list on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol “BRUN.”

Karos said he has spent years negotiating access to secure and robust compute resources for mission-critical applications at his previous startup, an algorithmic trading firm called Blue Fire Capital. That experience has given him a deep understanding of the economics and the importance of high availability of purpose-built compute resources for high-performance applications.

“We believe entering the public markets can provide us with both the capital and access to competitive financing we need to accelerate our strategy, expand our share in focus areas such as government and regulated industries, and productize our software and automation layer at scale,” Karos said.

Images: Boost Run