CuriosityStream to list on Nasdaq via $331 million reverse merger deal

(Reuters) - CuriosityStream Inc, a subscription streaming service for science, technology and history documentaries, said on Tuesday it has agreed to go public through a merger with blank-check company Software Acquisition Group Inc.

A unit of Software Acquisition will buy CuriosityStream through a reverse merger for about $331 million including debt, the streaming service said.

Software Acquisition is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) which raised about $150 million in November last year in its initial public offering.

CuriosityStream, launched by Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks in 2015, will list on Nasdaq under the symbol "CURI".

A SPAC is a shell company that uses IPO proceeds to buy another company, typically within two years, in a merger that will take the acquired company public. Investors are not notified in advance on what company the SPAC will buy.

Private companies and startups such as electric vehicle makers Fisker and Nikola Corp, fantasy sports and gambling company Draftkings Inchave already taken the SPAC route to go public.

Stifel is CuriosityStream's financial adviser, while B. Riley FBR is acting as Software Acquisition's financial adviser.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)