Brazil’s Semantix said on Wednesday it would go public in the United States by merging with a blank-check firm in a deal valuing the data software company at about $1 billion. Founded in 2010, Semantix runs a fully-integrated data software platform and has more than 300 clients in 15 countries spread across sectors such as retail, healthcare, financial services and telecom. ADVERTISEMENT AT&T Inc, Mercedes-Benz and Samsung are among the companies that use Semantix’s services, according to its website. The merger with Alpha Capital is expected to fetch Semantix proceeds of $324 million, which consist of $94 million from private investment in public equity (PIPE) and about $230 million from the special purpose acquisition company’s (SPAC) IPO. Inovabra Ventures, a unit of Brazil’s second-biggest lender Banco Bradesco SA, and investment firms Crescera and FJ Labs were among the investors in the PIPE. A SPAC is a publicly listed shell company that raises funds with the intention of merging with a private company within two years of floating its shares. The private firm goes public through the merger. Semantix will list on the Nasdaq after the deal closes, which is expected by the second quarter of 2022. (Reporting by Manya Saini, additional reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)