The CEO of a company about to go public via SPAC is reaching out directly to Reddit as blank-check firms try new ways to keep investors interested

• The CEO of a food technology company is looking to answer questions from retail investors before his firm goes public via a SPAC.
• Matt Crisp of Benson Hill announced on Reddit that his company will be answering retail questions before listing publicly.
• The move comes as many blank check firms struggle following their IPOs or post-SPAC mergers.

Trying to get in touch with retail investors before your company goes public? Head to Reddit's r/SPACs channel and ask them questions directly.

That's what Matt Crisp, CEO of Benson Hill did on Thursday. His food technology company will be going public in New York via a SPAC later this month, and he wants input from retail investors during the process.

"We want our food system to be driven by consumers for consumers, with a greater focus on transparency and inclusion. That's why I wanted to reach out to this community directly," Crisp said in a Reddit post.

Crisp announced that Benson Hill will be partnering with Robinhood-owned Say Technologies to respond to retail investor questions in a forum on September 17th ahead of the company's formal listing.

"Say has done a great job partnering with some interesting companies on quarterly earnings calls, and we wanted to extend the concept to address questions during the SPAC process, too, he said. "We recognize the attention paid to SPACs these days and want to leverage the platform in a positive way - which means more transparency and direct communications with a broad range of investors," said Crisp.

Benson Hill's effort to go the extra mile to connect with retail investors before its SPAC listing comes as blank-check deals struggle to gain traction. 75% of the 137 deals that closed by mid-February have fallen before their initial listing price, according to data from the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, SPAC shareholders' discontent with companies is evident in the growing number of redemptions. On average, SPACs that closed in August saw 58% of shares get redeemed, according to SPAC Research data cited by DealBook.