Aspiration Partners Inc., a Marina del Rey-based financial technology company that offers consumers a range of tools to prioritize sustainability in their spending habits, is going public via a merger with a blank check firm.

The deal with InterPrivate III Financial Partners Inc. gives the combined company an equity value of $2.3 billion and $400 million in cash on its balance sheet to fuel new growth initiatives like marketing and further investment in technology.

InterPrivate III had targeted a buy in the financial services sector following its raise in March of $259 million in an initial public offering.  

New York-based InterPrivate III is led by Chief Executive and Chairman Ahmed Fattouh, who founded private equity firm InterPrivate and has served as CEO since its 2017 inception.

The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter. The combined business, which forecasts revenue of $254 million in 2022 and $508 million in 2023, is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ASP.

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have become a common way for companies to go public. Local companies that have gone this route include Culver City-based Science 37 Inc., a digital clinical trial firm, and Santa Monica-based home workout video and fitness program company Beachbody Co. Inc.

A notable name on the SPAC’s board is John McCoy, retired chairman and chief executive of Bank One Corp. During his tenure in the 1980s and 1990s, McCoy oversaw more than 100 acquisitions, building the bank into a behemoth with $269 billion in assets by the time he retired in 1999.

Five years later, JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought Bank One for about $59 billion, combining the two biggest U.S. banks at the time.

Aspiration, led by CEO Andrei Cherny, has sought to tackle climate change through its services. The fintech has pledged to its 53 million members that savings and debit card purchases will never be used to fund big-carbon polluters such as the oil or coal industries.