SPACs acquire targets for significantly less than the potential IPO price, and their are still fees and deal costs associated with the merger, so from the target's perspective, you still end up with less than you would with a traditional IPO even after the fees of a traditional investment bank.

So why would a company ever go the SPAC route? SPACs are all about avoiding the (financial) disclosure required for a company going public the traditional way, and if you take a look at the list of companies getting acquired by SPACs this year, every single one of them has a red flag that would make their IPO risky (see, e.g., We).