Financial app company with big presence in St. Pete to go public

Webull Corp., a New York fintech company with a major presence in St. Petersburg, says its investment application business will merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and become a publicly traded company later this year, according to a news release.

Webull says it will be the name of the new company and get a new stock ticker for its parent company, SK Growth Opportunities Corp., traded on NASDAQ as SKGR. SK Growth was trading at $11.18 on Thursday, with a 0.45% jump after the news. The deal, according to CNBC and other financial news publications, values the digital investing platform at $7.3 billion.

Putting an established private company under its generally empty shell is the usual strategy of a SPAC that generally has no large operating business but has set itself up as a traded stock in pursuit of an ideal enterprise. 

SK Growth says it is a "blank check" company founded in December 2021 to do just that. It says it is a Cayman Island-exempted company created for the purpose of a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

Webull launched in 2018 and operates in 15 regions globally and is backed by private equity investors located in the United States, Europe and Asia, the company says. Webull moved large parts of its operations to St. Pete in late 2022 but maintains a New York City C-suite.

Webull serves 20 million registered users globally, providing retail investors with round-the-clock access to global financial markets, it says. Users can trade global stocks, options and fractional shares through Webull's trading platform.

Webull says its digital investment platform is built upon a global infrastructure with an intuitive interface that sets it apart from competitors like Stash and Robinhood. Webull says its app has been downloaded more than 40 million times and can operate on mobile devices, tablets and desktops.

That's important as consumers can now initiate and access investments through their devices, and hot financial pursuits such as Nvidia stock and Bitcoin have stimulated "retail" investors. Webull says it is prepared for growth as it sees increasing retail participation, a consumer demand for accessibility of financial information, and globalization of such investing.

The company says it is licensed as a broker-dealer with approximately $370 billion in equity notional volumes and 430 million options contracts traded through the Webull platform in 2023.

Webull notes it is backed by "blue chip" shareholders including General Atlantic, Coatue Management, Lightspeed Venture Partners and J. Rothschild Capital Management.