Chamath Palihapitiya, Austin Russell and Mat Ishbia are all new to this year's list thanks to SPACs. And the first three months of 2021 have already exceeded that total, with $97 billion raised in nearly 300 SPAC IPOs. These blank-check firms, typically sponsored by financial deal-makers and buttered with hedge fund cash, minted 10 new billionaires over the past year. Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya has a $1.2 billion fortune following SPAC mergers with Opendoor, Virgin Galactic and Clover Health. Here are all 10 billionaires new to the 2021 World’s Billionaires list thanks to the SPAC furor.

Source: Forbes April 06, 2021 09:56 UTC