LanzaTech SPAC: Everything you need to know about LanzaTech

What is LanzaTech?

LanzaTech is a Chicago-based ‘cleantech’ firm that turns carbon waste into sustainable chemicals using bioreactors. It was founded in 2005 by Jennifer Holmgren to develop carbon-recycling technology.

The resulting fuels and chemicals are used in vehicles, industrial production, fabrics, packaging and other everyday goods. For example, UniLever uses LanzaTech products to create laundry detergent pods, and LuluLemon uses its tech to create fabric ‘made from recycled carbon emissions’.

In 2020, LanzTech also spun out its sustainable aviation fuel company LanzaJet. LanzaJet’s customers include All Nippon Airways, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

What do we know about the LanzaTech SPAC?

On Tuesday 8 March, LanzaTech announced that it’s going public in a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) firm AMCI Acquisition Corp. II. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, subject to approval from the stockholders, at which point LanzaTech will start trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker ‘LNZA’.

LanzaTech will be the first Carbon Capture and Transformation (CCT) company to access public capital markets, which means it will be the first chance sustainability-focused individuals will get to invest in the industry.

Currently, AMCI Acquisition Corp trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker AMCI. Following the announcement, its shares rose above $10 for the first time since listing – SPAC’s typically list at $10 per share.

The SPAC merger is expected to raise $125 million, in addition to the $150 million in cash from AMCI in its IPO last year. LanzaTech has said it will be putting the funds raised toward its expansion strategy.

SPACs were an incredibly popular means of listing throughout 2020 and 2021 due to the lack of regulatory requirements compared to traditional IPOs. However, deals have been less frequent in 2022 due to increased scrutiny from both regulatory bodies and investors. The IPO market as a whole has also been reasonably stagnant in early 2022 due to the increased market volatility.

See more upcoming IPOs and SPACs

How much is LanzaTech worth?

LanzaTech is being valued at $2.2 billion in the SPAC deal with AMCI. In its last funding round in 2019, LanzaTech raised $72 million, which valued the company at $1 billion.

How to trade LanzaTech stock

Once the LanzaTech deal is complete, you’ll be able to trade its shares in the same way as any other stock on the market.

In the meantime, you can trade thousands of other shares with City Index in these easy steps:

1. Open a City Index account, or log in if you’re already a customer
2. Search for the company you want to trade in our award-winning platform
3. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
4. Place the trade

Alternatively, you can practise trading shares in a risk-free demo account.

How does LanzaTech make money?

LanzaTech makes money by providing engineering and start-up services to other companies, as well as follow-on services like microbes and media. The company licenses its technology to partner companies that build the fermentation plants, which means that it doesn’t spend any money building facilities itself. 

LanzaTech’s customers and partners have collectively committed approximately $800 million in the development of new facilities using LanzaTech’s technology. Partners include UniLever, LuluLemon and L’Oreal.

Is LanzaTech profitable?

As a private company, LanzaTech hasn’t had to reveal its balance sheet publicly. Estimates put the company’s revenue at anywhere between $5 million to $25 million.

What is LanzaTech's business model?

LanzaTech’s business model marks a shift away from the ‘centralised production’ concept that most businesses have come to rely on. Instead of building a single factory to turn carbon waste into biochemicals, LanzaTech’s model focuses on expanding the number of factories capable of using its technology.

This also means LanzaTech has fewer geographical limits than other biotech firms. Instead of needing to find streams of waste gases local to one factory, LanzaTech can harness multiple streams across different regions.

Although the emissions will be in smaller amounts, meaning each factory individually produces fewer volumes of LanzaTech biochemicals, collectively the number of partner factories means the company is capable of operating to scale.

It has meant that LanzaTech has had to focus on creating products that can be operated by individuals that aren't bioreactor experts. This is where a lot of the company’s research and development time goes, according to LanzaTech’s Director of Bioinformatics. Dr Wayne Mitchell told Forbes that the AI research currently underway is focused on ensuring that the intelligent monitoring systems enable the reactors to operate at peak performance without the need for a genetic engineering expert.

Proceeds from the SPAC are expected to fund acceleration in LanzaTech’s commercial operations, capital requirements associated with development projects and continued technological development.

Who are LanzaTech’s competitors?

LanzaTech’s competitors are others within the carbon capture and sustainable fuel production platform industry such as Waste2Watergy, BlueFire Renewables, and Purevision Technology. LanzaTech is expected to be the first public company in the industry.

Who owns LanzaTech?

LanzaTech is still privately held. Current investors include ARPA-E, Novo Holdings, Khosla Ventures, Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund and NZ Super Fund.

Under the terms of the SPAC deal, there’s a committed Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) from investors including AMCI, ArcelorMittal, BASF, K1W1, Khosla Ventures, Mitsui & Co., LTD., New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures LLC, Primetals Technologies, SHV Energy and Trafigura.

LanzaTech’s management team

LanzeTech’s management team is currently listed on its website as:

• CEO and Co-Founder Jennifer Holmgre
• Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder Dr Sean Simpson
• CFO Geoff Trukenbrod