London-based fintech PrimaryBid has today announced raising approx. €42.3 million Series B funding, co-led by OMERS, London Stock Exchange Group and Draper Esprit, alongside Fidelity, and existing investors Pentech and Outward VC among others.
Founded in 2015, PrimaryBid seamlessly connects everyday investors with public companies. Through a long-term agreement with the London Stock Exchange, it ensures that retail investors transact at the same time and at the same price as institutional investors, creating a more democratised access to public markets. To date it has been involved in 90 issuances on London markets, including Compass Group, Ocado, Taylor Wimpey and William Hill.
So far, PrimaryBid has completed over 41 capital raisings for UK listed companies and investment trusts since April 2020, working alongside global investment banks to broaden investor access as companies recapitalised their balance sheets and raised growth capital. Retail investors directly own 13.5% of the UK market, while additionally holding approximately €296.7 billion (£269 billion) in cash ISAs, making them an important constituency in any capital raising activity (sources: ONS, 2018; HMRC, 2020).
Anand Sambasivan, co-founder and CEO at PrimaryBid, commented: “We are delighted to count Draper Esprit as both an investor and a partner as we expand internationally, and look toward North America. Our simple, inclusive technology has global applicability. It allows corporate issuers to access the widest possible set of investors, improving capital formation and putting the public back into public markets.”
Vinoth Jayakumar, Partner at Draper Esprit, commented: “Our investment in PrimaryBid aligns with part of our wider investment thesis to democratise retail investors’ access to public markets as well as modernise market infrastructure software. For us, both our companies are anticipating the direction of travel of the future of finance.”
Charlie Walker, Head of Equity and Fixed Income, Primary Markets at London Stock Exchange plc said:“This investment builds on our collaboration with PrimaryBid and is part of London Stock Exchange Group’s commitment to broadening retail investor access to public equity markets. Through PrimaryBid’s innovative offering, retail investors have been able to access capital raisings on the same terms as institutional investors, supporting the U.K.’s public companies by providing additional capital and liquidity. PrimaryBid has become an important part of the U.K.’s capital raising ecosystem and we look forward to working with them to further enhance retail investor access to capital markets within the U.K. and globally.”
Tara Reeves, Partner at OMERS Ventures said: “As fintech specialists it’s been impossible to ignore the rise of PrimaryBid in 2020 and its success championing retail investors in the capital markets.PrimaryBid’s technology sits at the intersection of powerful trends in financial services – regulation, digitalisation and democratisation – and OMERS Ventures is delighted to support the team’s mission to put individual investors on equal terms with institutions. PrimaryBid is now well integrated at the highest levels of the U.K.’s capital raising ecosystem, and we look forward to helping the team realize their ambitions internationally.”
