Savings and investing app Acorns plans to go public by merging with a blank-check firm.

The fintech start-up introduced a deal Thursday to mix with Pioneer Merger Corp., a publicly traded particular function acquisition firm, or SPAC. The merger values Acorns at roughly $2.2 billion and is anticipated to shut within the again half of this yr.

When it’s finalized, Acorns will commerce on the Nasdaq beneath the symbols OAKS — a nod to the corporate’s motto and analogy of rising acorns into “mighty oaks.”

“Now was the time to go public to speed up our progress, and get the instruments of accountable wealth-making in everybody’s arms as quick as potential, after they want it most,” mentioned Acorns CEO Noah Kerner. “We simply noticed this as an accelerant on that journey.”

Institutional buyers Wellington Management, Greycroft, TPG’s world affect investing platform, and funds managed by BlackRock additionally dedicated to a personal placement as a part of the announcement. Kerner and Pioneer’s sponsor every plan to contribute 10% of their private possession in Acorns as a reward to eligible Acorns prospects.

The firm was final valued at lower than $1 billion, and has attracted enterprise investments from the likes of PayPal Ventures, BlackRock, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Lopez, and Dwayne Johnson, in accordance to PitchBook.

Irvine, California-based Acorns had been within the strategy of closing one other personal funding spherical, Kerner mentioned, however determined to go the lately in style SPAC route. He pointed to John Christodoro, a PayPal board member and chairman of Pioneer Merger, as the suitable companion and one motive Acorns bypassed a conventional IPO.

“Acorns just isn’t solely a class chief but additionally a class creator. Its worth proposition is constructed round inclusive, long-term monetary wellness,” Christodoro mentioned in a assertion. “With integrity at its core, the model has an extremely loyal following and market main retention charges.”

Acorns’ hottest choices let prospects routinely make investments the spare change from debit or bank card purchases into index funds. Since launching in 2014, it has expanded into instructional choices, banking merchandise, a debit card, and an automatic retirement account service.

Special function acquisition firms, often called SPACs, increase cash through a shell firm to purchase an current firm. This has change into a in style manner for later-stage, venture-backed start-ups to listing on public markets rapidly this yr. New issuances of SPACS dropped off in April although, with simply 10 new ones coming to market versus 109 a month earlier, according to SPAC Research.

But it is benefitting passive funding apps, too. Wealthfront and Betterment each notched their finest quarters in historical past to begin yr. Kerner mentioned the primary quarter was additionally Acorns’ finest three months on document with subscribers doubling from the fourth quarter to four million. The start-up’s income is made up of roughly 80% subscription charges, and 20% transaction charges and model partnerships.

When requested about rising competitors, Kerner mentioned “we run our personal race.”

“We’re targeted on long run monetary wellness and serving to prospects get and keep dedicated to their long-term monetary finest pursuits,” he mentioned. “Our imaginative and prescient is to construct a monetary wellness system that allows on a regular basis Americans to save and make investments.”

Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC’s dad or mum firm, NBCUniversal, and is an investor in Acorns.