Triller, Inc., a competitor to China short-video app TikTok, is in talks with a special purpose acquisition company about a consolidation which would allow the U.S. social media company to go public, sources with knowledge of the transaction disclosed.
Triller is trying to raise $250 million in private funds with backers spearheaded by UBS Group AG, Reuters said.
SPACs, or blank-check companies, are shell entities that go public to secure enough money to buy a company - letting the target secure a public listing. Sources said that Triller had so far secured $100 million at a valuation of roughly $1.25 billion.
The accord would come as Triller takes advantage of TikTok's current issues. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has ordered ByteDance, TikTok's China parent company, to dispose of the company because of worries that U.S. citizens' personal information might be available to the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok has filed charges against the U.S. government to end the prohibition from U.S. app stores while negotiations for a deal continue.
Triller has set itself as a competitor. The San Francisco-based video-sharing and entertainment company will aim for either a SPAC combination or a funding series, sources said, adding that no deal was confirmed yet.
Triller's executive chairperson Bobby Sarnevesht is said to have dangled a $20 billion bid to take over TikTok's assets in August this year. TikTok said it did not receive any acquisition proposal.
Started in 2015, Triller said it was optimistic that doubts over its competitor's future would attract more users. Triller has a fraction only of TikTok's 100 million users in the U.S and had almost 690 million monthly active users worldwide as of July.
