ETAC

Failed

E.Merge Technology Acquisition Corp.

Raised
$500M
CIK
1814728
SPAC Ticker
ETACU
Focus
Technology, Unicorns
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Officers and Directors

S. Steven Singh, our Chairman as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part, previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Concur Technologies, or Concur, from 1998 until Concur was acquired by SAP in 2014. Concur became a disruptive force in travel management with TripLink, its open-booking solution. Post-acquisition by SAP, Mr. Singh stayed on as Chief Executive Officer of Concur until 2017; he was also named to the SAP Global Managing Board and also served as President of SAP’s Business Networks and Applications. Since January 2020, Mr. Singh has been a Managing Director with Madrona Venture Group, which he had worked alongside for years as a strategic director and angel investor. He focuses on next generation B2B and enterprise-related startups, particularly within Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence, intelligent applications and next-generation cloud infrastructure. Prior to this, from 2017 to 2019, Mr. Singh was a director of Docker, Inc., a developer of container-based software and PaaS services. In 2017, Mr. Singh was appointed Chief Executive Officer, a position he held until 2019. During Mr. Singh’s tenure, Docker transformed from a mostly free open-source offering into a revenue-generating company with 750 paying enterprise customers. He has served on the boards of several private and public companies, notably Clari, a venture-backed revenue operations platform designed to improve productivity, Talend Inc. (NASDAQ: TLND), an open source software solutions provider, DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU), a cloud-based software suite that automates the agreement process and provides legally binding e-signatures, Cleartrip.com, a private online portal designed to offer travel booking services (until 2017), WafD Bank (NASDAQ: WAFD), a bank with operations in the western United States, Modumetal, Inc., a nanoscale metal manufacturer, W Fund, an early-stage investor in Washington state technology start-ups (until 2015), and Center ID, a financial services company. Mr. Singh is well-qualified to serve as a director due to his extensive operational and board experience in the technology industry.

Jeff Clarke, our Co-Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Director since inception, has been the non-executive Chairman of FTD, LLC, a private floral wire service, retailer and wholesaler controlled by Nexus Capital since 2019. He also serves as an independent director at Generate Life Sciences, a private healthcare company controlled by GI Partners and at Columbia Care, Inc. (OTC:CCHWF), a multi-state cannabis dispensary chain. Prior to this, from 2014 to 2019, Mr. Clarke was Chief Executive Officer of Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:KODK), a technology company producing camera-related products with a historic basis in photography. During his tenure, Mr. Clarke led one of the most complex turnarounds in corporate history. Mr. Clarke implemented strategic actions to generate annual saving and improve liquidity while turning around multiple divisions within Kodak to become profitable, such as its film business. Prior to joining Kodak, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Travelport Worldwide Ltd, a provider of distribution, technology and payment solutions for the travel and tourism industry, from 2006 to 2014, ultimately leading the sale of Travelport (including its Orbitz and Galileo subsidiaries) to the Blackstone Group for $4.3 billion. As Travelport’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Clarke reorganized the company around three brands: Orbitz, CheapTickets and ebookers, engineered the acquisitions of Worldspan and Sprice.com, and coordinated the subsidiary IPO of Orbitz Worldwide, where he served as Chairman. Previously, Mr. Clarke also worked as Chief Operating Officer of Computer Associates International, Inc., a technology company, and Chief Financial Officer of Compaq, a manufacturer of personal computers and related products and services. He has served on the boards of directors of Docker, Inc., a developer of software code collaboration platforms, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), an application software company, Red Hat, Inc., a private company providing services for various computer operating systems, and Compuware Corporation, a private firm developing software testing tools. Mr. Clarke holds an M.B.A. from Northeastern University and a B.A. in Economics from State University of New York College at Geneseo. He is well-qualified to serve as a director due to his extensive public and private company operational and board experience.

Guy Gecht, our Co-Chief Executive Officer since inception, most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Electronics For Imaging, Inc., a private digital printing technology provider. He led the company from 2000 to 2018, helping to redefine the ways printing companies pursue new markets and retool their operations in a world moving away from print on paper. During his tenure, EFI increased market penetration, diversified product offerings and introduced new services driving demand for digital printing worldwide. Besides guiding EFI through successful transformation to become a global technology leader in new industries, Mr. Gecht also shepherded EFI through many acquisitions, including the acquisition of VUTEk, a superwide digital inkjet printing company. Mr. Gecht is credited with transforming EFI into a leader in enabling digital transformation for industries such as packaging, textile and building materials, growing the company from a single product line and OEM business model into a diverse, worldwide company driving the transition from analog to on-demand digital imaging. During his tenure, Mr. Gecht led the expansion into productivity software and industrial inkjet. Mr. Gecht subsequently initiated the sale of EFI to Siris Capital Group in 2019 in a take-private transaction worth approximately $1.7 billion. Prior to joining EFI, Mr. Gecht was Director of Engineering at Interro Systems, Inc., a technology company, from 1993 to 1995 and a Software Manager of ASP Computer Products, a networking company, from 1991 to 1993. He also served as Manager of Networking Systems for Apple Israel, a technology company, and as an officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, where he managed an engineering development team and later was an acting manager of an IDF high-tech department. Mr. Gecht currently serves as Lead Director of Checkpoint Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a global information technology security company and as a Director of Logitech International S.A. (NASDAQ: LOGI), a manufacturer of computer peripherals and software. During his 19 years tenure as the Chief Executive Officer and director of EFI, Mr. Gecht was named as a defendant in several stockholder actions in his capacity as an officer and director of EFI. In June 2019, two stockholder actions were filed against EFI and each director of EFI, alleging that they violated Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act by issuing a materially deficient proxy statement for the acquisition of EFI by affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC. In August 2017, a stockholder action was filed against EFI, Mr. Gecht and EFI’s then Chief Financial Officer, alleging that, in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act (and Rule 10b-5), EFI issued false and misleading disclosure in annual and quarterly reports misstating the timing of “recognition of revenue” for large-format printer sales. From November 2006 to February 2007, three stockholder actions were filed against EFI and its officers and directors. Each alleged commission of fraud in violation of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act in connection with the timing and pricing of stock options, as well as filing false reports with the SEC. Each action described above has been dismissed or settled. Mr. Gecht holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Ben Gurion University in Israel.

Shuo Zhang, one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part, has served as a non-employee director of Grid Dynamics International, Inc. since 2017. Grid Dynamics is an engineering IT services company with which Chaserg Technology Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAC), a blank-check company, consummated its initial business combination in March 2020. She is also managing partner and Chief Executive Officer of Renascia Partners, a boutique advisory firm. Ms. Zhang currently serves on the boards of directors of several other public and private companies, including S.O.I.Tec Silicon on Insulator Technologies SA, a manufacturer of high performance semiconductor materials, Telink Semiconductor Co., Ltd. a fabless integrated circuit design company, and PDF Solutions (NASDAQ:PDFS), a multinational software and engineering services company. She is also actively involved with private venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley and since 2016 has served as China Advisory Partner for Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV). From 2007 to 2015, Ms. Zhang served in various senior management capacities at Cypress Semiconductor, including roles in corporate development, general management and worldwide mobile sales. Ms. Zhang served in different product, marketing and sales management roles in Silicon Light Machines, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor which produces optical components, Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A), a chemical and life sciences diagnostic company, Altera Corporation, a manufacturer of programmable logic devices which was acquired by Intel Corporation in 2015, and LSI Corporation, a designer of software and semiconductors for storage and networking which was acquired by Avago Technologies in 2014. Ms. Zhang holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University and a M.S. in Material Science and Mechanics from Penn State University. She is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to her extensive operational and board experience in the technology, software and internet sectors.

David ibnAle, one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part, is a founding and managing partner of Advance Venture Partners, or AVP, a venture capital investment firm focused on the commerce, enterprise technology and media sectors since 2014. Prior to co-founding AVP, Mr. ibnAle was a managing director of TPG Growth, the growth equity and middle market investment platform of TPG, where he led the firm’s global technology investing effort from 2008 to 2012. Prior to joining TPG Growth in 2008, he was a partner at Francisco Partners and began his investing career at Summit Partners in 1996. Mr. ibnAle currently serves on the boards of Morning Consult, a global technology and media company, Affinity, Inc., a relationship management platform, PebblePost, Inc., a marketing technology platform, Above Average, a multi-channel producer of digital comedic content, HyTrust, Inc., a provider of security, compliance and control software for virtualization of information technology infrastructure, Nativo, Inc., an advertising and technology company, Unified Enterprises, Corp., a provider of social advertising services, UrbanSitter, an online service and app for the provision of childcare services, and Ultra Clean Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: UCTT), a semiconductor manufacturer. Mr. ibnAle received an A.B. in Public Policy and an A.M. in International Development Policy from Stanford University, and received an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive investment experience in the technology, software and internet sectors.

Curtis Feeny, one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms part, has been a Senior Advisor at Peterson Partners, a private equity firm focused on the business services, consumer products, software and internet, healthcare, retail, and financial services sectors since 2020. Since 2017, he has served as Venture Advisor at Voyager Capital, a venture capital investment firm focused on the software, cloud and Big Data Applications sectors where he previously served as a Managing Director, from 2000 to 2017. Prior to his work at Voyager Capital and Peterson Partners, Mr. Feeny served as a Managing Director at Silicon Valley Data Capital, a venture capital firm focused on enterprise data management and synthetic intelligence software, and at Trammell Crow Company, a venture capital firm focused on the commerce, enterprise technology and media sectors, from 2000 to 2006. Mr. Feeny currently serves on the board of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE: CBRE), a commercial real estate services company, Ayla Networks Inc., an Internet-of-Things solutions provider and Stanford Federal Credit Union, a credit union. Mr. Feeny has been a member of a number of boards, including Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), an office retail company, Wise.io, a machine learning services company acquired by GE, AutoGrid Systems, Inc, a predictive energy control company, ClearCare Online, a provider of services to the home healthcare industry, and Sensys Networks, Inc., an urban traffic management company. Mr. Feeny has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive investment and venture experience in the technology, software and internet sectors.