You may recall that a few years ago many companies took an nontraditional route to going public. Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) -- more colloquially referred to as "blank check companies" -- became a popular method of pursuing an initial public offering. An influential player in the SPAC boom was a billionaire venture capitalist named Chamath Palihapitiya. Palihapitiya is a prominent technology investor and has a closely followed social media presence, largely thanks to his popular All-In podcast.

Palihapitiya's support of SPACs may have contributed to the illusion that many of these businesses were lucrative investment opportunities. The unfortunate reality, however, is that many SPAC businesses were far less mature and financially stable than most companies that pursued the more traditional IPO underwriting process. As a result, a lot of money has been lost investing in SPACs.

One SPAC stock that is down substantially from its IPO is an electric vehicle (EV) business called Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR). A hallmark of Cathie Wood's ARK Invest exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Archer develops vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) EVs.

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Source Fool.com