LSE, ABN AMRO and Fidelity go all out for FinTech bidding platform
The banks and exchanges are in. Maybe you are too.
PrimaryBid, the British fintech platform that connects retail investors with public companies raising capital, has closed a $50m Series B investment round.
Investors include the London Stock Exchange Group, Draper Esprit, Omers Ventures, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and ABN Amro Ventures.
PrimaryBid completed an $8.6m Series A fundraising in September 2019, and signed a commercial agreement with London Stock Exchange in November 2019 to broaden access to UK equity offerings. The firm also has an arrangement with pan-European exchange operator Euronext.
Quite often these days, the new age so-called ‘FinTech’ startups, a term often used by media rather than bona fide technologists, are a short lived triumph of hyperbole over substance, many lacking any form of technology, and in some cases, arrogantly considering themselves challengers to longstanding banks despite having no mettle, no structure, and no capital apart from venture capital which will run out and need repaying.
FinanceFeeds has detailed how the cleverly branded challengers are not really much of a challenge at all, instead rather a case of disgruntled former bank employees using other people’s money at a time when challenging banks is trendy, to attempt to make a mild disruption.
Those days are gone, and very few have gone further than their initial stages, some have inevitably ceased to exist, and we are all left wondering where the actual tech element is, or the ‘fin’ element for that matter!
This is perhaps why banks sit back calmly and ignore their maverick employees who leave to attempt to rival them and show how old fashioned they are compared to the latest hairbrained new idea, because the banks know what will fly and what will not. They know there is no serious challenge.
What banks do know, however, is when to add a synergic component to their remit, and in this case, PrimaryBid has got the banks and exchanges interested enough for them to open their usually very conservative wallets.
Perhaps the electronic trading industry’s larger entities may take heed, as platforms such as this give large investors an opportunity to make investments and gain stakes in companies, an even more interesting alternative to multi-asset trading of stocks and equities on derivatives exchanges.
PrimaryBid has completed over 41 capital raisings for UK listed companies and investment trusts since April 2020.
Proceeds from the latest round will be used to build-out the PrimaryBid team and technology platform as the company deepens its links with key intermediaries and expands into international markets.
Anand Sambasivan, CEO of PrimaryBid, says: “The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the effectiveness of the public markets, with companies recapitalising quickly and efficiently. Our technology has allowed thousands of retail investors to participate on equal terms with institutional investors, unlocking a large and important source of liquidity and long-term share ownership for corporate issuers.”
