SPACs Are Flooding Back in 2026 After a Massive 2025 Fundraising Year

SPACs are making a noticeable comeback in early 2026, following what Bloomberg calls a bonanza year in 2025.

According to the report, blank check companies have already raised more than $2 billion just weeks into January. This follows a very strong 2025, when roughly $30 billion was raised across 144 SPAC IPOs, the highest annual total since the 2021 peak.

The backdrop is important. After the 2021 boom, many SPACs struggled to complete deals, returns disappointed, and regulators stepped in. Activity slowed sharply, leaving a large number of sponsors sidelined and investors cautious.

Now conditions appear to have shifted. A healthier IPO market in 2025 and improving risk appetite have encouraged sponsors to raise capital again. Many of these new SPACs are entering the market with the expectation that dealmaking will be easier this time around.

Skeptics argue this is less about confidence and more about pressure. Hundreds of SPACs still need to find acquisition targets before deadlines expire, or they will be forced to return capital. Optimists see it as a reset rather than a repeat of the earlier bubble.

Is this a genuine recovery for SPACs, or just another cycle building up before liquidations and write downs return?