Insiders said that the SoftBank Vision Fund remained a supportive private shareholder in Mapbox.They added that the SPAC had sought to reduce Mapbox's valuation as part of the merger talks as a result of wider sentiment in the public markets rather than an attempt to improve SoftBank's economics in the deal.
Mapbox announced in 2017 that SoftBank had led a $164m Series C funding round without disclosing its valuation. If the merger had taken place, Mapbox would have become the latest company backed by SoftBank's Vision Funds to go public through a SPAC merger. WeWork, the shared office-space provider, struck a deal in March with BowX Acquisition to go public at a $9bn valuation nearly two years after aborting a conventional IPO at a far higher valuation.
One of the biggest SPAC deals of all to date has been the recently announced $40bn merger of the Asian ride-hailing app Grab with Altimeter Growth Corp.The Japanese group has created several other SPACs in addition to the one that is entertaining a merger with Mapbox.