SPAC critics often argue the businesses that go public through the vehicle create no long-term value but instead act as a means to create exit liquidity for founders and existing investors at the expense of unsuspecting retail investors.
This is at least partly true for the handful of companies that have gone bankrupt under a year after going public.
However, long before SPACs gained the reputation of being an instrument to raise money for zero-revenue companies with no prospective future, they were considered a viable alternative to an IPO.