THE WHAT? Perfect Corp has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Provident Acquisition Corp for a business combination that would result in Perfect becoming a publicly traded company.

THE DETAILS The deal sets Perfect Corp’s enterprise value of US$1.02 billion and on closing the new merged firm will be named Perfect Corp and listed on the Nasdaq. Perfect expects to collect US$335 million in gross proceeds.

Perfect will use the proceeds to fund further global expansion, extending its industry coverage from beauty and fashion to tangential sectors, and augmenting its innovative AR and AI SaaS solutions, including product try-on, facial diagnostics and digital consultation solutions.

THE WHY? Alice Chang, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Perfect, commented, “Perfect Corp. is transforming the beauty and fashion industries. We democratize the shopping experience for consumers and brands with our leading AR and AI SaaS solutions. At the same time, we empower brands large and small to provide their customers with an enjoyable, convenient, and personalized omnichannel shopping experience through innovative technologies. Current consumer trends, such as increasing penetration of omnichannel consumption, hygiene awareness, and focus on ESG, provide us with favorable tailwinds to accelerate growth and adoption of our services. By combining with Provident, we expect to not only attain access to the public capital markets, but also attract more world-class investors, enhance our corporate governance, expand our market reach, increase development in AI & AR technology and explore white space, such as adjacent fashion verticals and metaverse applications of our technologies.”