Volato Announces Closing of Business Combination with PROOF Acquisition Corp I; Secures Additional Equity Financing

Volato, Inc., (“Volato”) a leading private aviation company in the United States, and PROOF Acquisition Corp I (NYSE: PACI) (“PACI”) today announced the completion of their business combination (the “Business Combination”). The combined company will now operate under the Volato brand, and its common stock and warrants will commence trading on December 4, 2023 on the New York Stock Exchange American (“NYSE American”) under the new ticker symbols “SOAR” and “SOAR.WS.” The Business Combination was approved at a Special Meeting of PACI shareholders held on November 28, 2023.

Concurrent with the closing of the Business Combination, PACI also announced the closing of an additional $12 million of private investments, which, along with the $14 million in Series A Preferred Equity financing completed since July 2023, were converted to common stock at the time of the closing of the Business Combination. Including these transactions and the conversion of Volato convertible debt, the total capital raised exceeds $60 million.

Matt Liotta, CEO & Co-Founder of Volato commented, “This is an exciting milestone for Volato, our customers, and our investors. We believe that this transaction provides not only the capital to accelerate our fleet growth and strategy, but also a level of transparency and institutional support that should make our product even more attractive to new fractional owners and private fliers. After founding the company in 2021 and quickly ramping to nearly $100 million of revenue in 2022, we are now positioned to build on this momentum as a public company. More importantly, we believe that our total funding and capitalization at closing provides us with sufficient capital to execute on our growth strategy and fund our path to profitability. We’re thrilled to begin this new chapter and look forward to delivering more efficient, friendly, and rewarding solutions to travelers while creating value for our shareholders.”

John Backus, CEO of PACI commented, “When we identified Volato as an ideal partner for PACI, we were impressed by the company’s innovative business model, proven results, and highly experienced team. These attributes, in combination with PACI’s deep aviation acumen and experience, help position Volato well for success as a public company. Our two teams have worked together to bring over $60 million of fresh capital to Volato, positioning the company for a strong debut. We are very pleased with this outcome and want to thank our existing and new shareholders with whom we are invested alongside.”