Freight booking and payment platform Freightos Ltd is looking to go public on Nasdaq after the company entered into a definitive merger agreement with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Gesher I Acquisition Corp.

The capital raised from the transaction will be invested to further scale the business, driving transaction value and improving margins.

The implied pro forma enterprise value of the merger is estimated at approximately $435 million, leaving 78 percent stake to existing shareholders after the deal.

Apart from the merger, the company has secured additional commitments amounting to US$80 million from airlines and investing firms, including $10 million from Qatar Airways, $60 million from M&G Investments and up to $10 million from Composite Analysis Group, an affiliate of Safer Logistics.

Including Qatar, existing shareholders in Freightos include FedEx, SGX Group, Aleph, MoreVC and Booking Holdings Chairman Bob Mylod.

Zvi Schrieber, founder and CEO of Freightos, said the reason for listing via a SPAC was due to the ‘better process,’ according to a statement on The Loadstar.

Gesher explained in its SEC filing: “A merger with us will offer a target business an alternative process to a public listing rather than the traditional initial public offering process. We believe target businesses may favour this alternative, which we believe is less expensive and takes less time, while offering greater certainty of execution than the traditional initial public offering.”

The deal is slated to close in the second half of the year pending customary closing conditions.