Boston Internet startup Starry completes deal to go public

The SPAC merger worked out even as other recent tech sector deals have fallen apart.

Boston-based Starry provides wireless Internet service in six cities.Starry

Wireless Internet provider Starry has completed its merger with a so-called blank check company and will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, despite recent troubles in the tech sector.

Boston-based Starry completed its merger with FirstMark Horizon Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company, and raised $176 million to continue expanding its Internet service. That was less than the $450 million anticipated when the deal was announced back in October, but tech stocks have been falling this year and investors have shunned many SPAC deals.

The merger deal valued Starry at $1.76 billion, but once trading begins, the company could face the same hostile reaction that has greeted other recent SPAC listings. Boston biotech Gelesis went public via a SPAC merger in January and has since seen its stock price fall by 42 percent, for example.

“I’m proud that our team is taking this next important step to grow the company,” said chief executive and co-founder Chet Kanojia in a statement. “Building broadband networks at scale is hard. Serving your customer well is even harder.”

Unlike Internet services from cable and telephone companies that run over wires, Starry’s $50-per-month service uses wireless technology to connect homes and businesses to the Internet. The company said it had 63,230 subscribers at the end of 2021 and offers service in six cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Denver; and Columbus, Ohio. Revenue almost doubled in the first nine months of last year, to $15 million, while a net loss of $119 million was 36 percent more than in the same period in 2020.