CuriosityStream Founder and Chairman John Hendricks. Photo credit: CuriosityStream

CuriosityStream, the upstart streaming service, has announced that it’s reached a deal to go public via a merger with Software Acquisition Group, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Software Acquisition, the targeted merger company, was listed publicly last year and raised $150 million from investors, money that will now go to CuriosityStream plus an additional $25 million that the company says it’ll further raise from investors. The proposed merger will value CuriosityStream at $330 million including debt. As a private company, CuriosityStream has raised $255 million in venture funding.

CuriosityStream is a science-focused streaming platform that was founded in 2011 by John Hendricks, an entrepreneur best known for founding entertainment giant Discovery Inc. The company has racked up 13 million subscribers to date, some directly on its platform, and others by third-party deals with cable companies. CuriosityStream is available in 175 countries, offering over 3,100 titles and 900 exclusive originals. The company has embarked on a plan to expand its content base to 11,000 titles within five years.

CuriosityStream has chosen a public listing path (merging with SPACs) that’s become more popular as of late. Companies including Hims, Lordstown Motors, Fisker, and Velodyne are eyeing soon public listings via that path. Such mergers entail a private company going public by combining with a SPAC, a publicly-traded entity with no operations whose sole purpose is to merge with another company. Companies including Nikola, DraftKings, and Virgin Galactic have already tested the path with significant success.