Cannabis marketing platform Springbig goes public through SPAC

By Riley Kaminer

Boca-based Springbig, which has developed a cannabis marketing platform, today announced the successful closure of their business combination with blank check company Tuatara Capital Acquisition Corporation. The new company plans to be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select stock market under the ticker SBIG. At its time of listing, the company was valued at around $275 million.

Springbig made a name for itself by developing software to help cannabis retailers and brands secure customer loyalty.  The complicated legal environment surrounding the cannabis industry presented an opportunity for Springbig to offer key services to major players in the space. 

“It’s a very exciting time for everybody here at Springbig,” founder and CEO Jeffrey Harris (pictured above) told Refresh Miami. “We feel a sense of accomplishment to be able to continue our journey as a public company.”

Harris acknowledged that public markets are currently going through a volatile period. “But at the end of the day, we’re still really confident in our ability to perform, which we believe is most important,” he asserted.

The advantage of going public, according to Harris, is that it will unlock growth opportunities for Springbig. “One of the key reasons that we decided to go public was to amp up our non-organic growth, or our acquisition opportunities,” he said, noting that Springbig has already experienced significant organic growth since opening its doors in 2018.

“We are still focused on trying to find the right acquisition partners that could add value to our customer base,” continued Harris. The idea is that, through acquisition, Springbig will be able to expand its range of offerings.

Springbig’s main goal is to support retailers’ and brands’ customer engagement, retention, and foot traffic. They accomplish this through their platform, which connects consumers with retailers and brands in the US and Canada through SMS marketing, emails, customer feedback systems, and loyalty programs. 

Springbig’s marketing automation solutions help ensure that customer communications are consistent. They also offer reporting and analytics features to help businesses understand consumer behavior.

Currently, Springbig reports that their product is used by 1,200 clients across 2,500 locations, plus more than 100 wholesalers.

On top of the market volatility, Harris identified slightly lower consumer demand for cannabis products as somewhat of a threat to their business. “The market is definitely more difficult than it was before,” he explained, during the work-from-home heyday when consumers had more time and money to spend on cannabis. 

“Cannabis is recession proof to a large extent, but we’re not going to see the increases in cannabis sales like we saw before,” noted Harris.

That doesn’t make him any less bullish on the cannabis space overall, however. “Although the market is going through a little bit of a hectic period right now, there’s just so much growth coming,” Harris said, noting that many states still have yet to legalize cannabis for recreational use.

The Springbig team continues to expand – sitting at close to 200 full-time employees at the moment, 125 of which are based in South Florida. For Harris, this is just the beginning: “I think there’s still a ton of upside for tech in South Florida.”

Photo of some of Springbig’s team in 2021.

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Riley Kaminer