For some reason, Crowdcube have started sending me weekly newsletters again, after not hearing from them for years. Never anything about Monzo though.
I assumed as part of the yearly audit, they would need to get the current price calculated by independent parties. No? They have a lot of liabilities to shareholders outstanding so surely they would need to know how much those liabilities are, based on an up to date share price
AI tells me Iām wrong. I stand corrected.
The only way a share price can be ascertained in a private company is if there has been a sale of shares at that price. Even this āpriceā needs to be taken with salt because there are lots of institutional investors who will bid up the prices by investing small amounts at higher valuations, so doesnāt mean anyone would pay that for the business.
After that date when that transaction occured then the new share price becomes a best guess of whatever you think the valuation is now divided by how many shares you think there are in issue now.
I personally reckon monzo is closer to the Ā£8-9bn valuation so I have them down on my books as around Ā£25 a share. Other calculations will differ, until they ipo and it is there for everyone to see.
1 Like
I swear if Monzo do another raise and allow staff and exec board to sell whilst we 10+ years holders again get nothing then I will be moving my circa Ā£100,000 assets with Monzo to trading 212 and closing my Monzo account.
They can mail my IPO cheque to my son because Iāll probably be dead by then.
Iām not asking for special treatment, just fair treatment.
5 Likes
Hear hear
Anyone else has found the H2 2026 potential IPO in a serious publication? A few folks have been stating that time frame after M supposedly appointed the bankers. I personally think theyāll wait for more numbers from the continent venturing to help the valuation swell a bit more.
And that wonāt happen before the next set of account same time next year.
1 Like
Apparently Diana Layfield stated to the FT today after releasing the results that the group is ānot in a rush to float,ā pointing out that because Monzo is highly profitable, rapidly growing, and well-capitalized, it has zero immediate need to raise public capital.
5 Likes
Iāve seen that article, and can confirm that statement.
Funnily enough, Ms Layfield does actually look like the gif youāve postedā¦.
1 Like
If Monzo privately raise and give investors the chance to participate then Iām all good - thatās the Monzo spirit I signed up for; however if they act like greedy bankers and keep it all for themselves then Monzo are no longer the kind of bank I thought they were and I will be leaving - their products are not competitive enough to keep me interested if they treat me like an irrelevant shareholder.
The reality is that as crowdfunding investors we are the very bottom of the queue. Just look at what happened with Freetrade.
Also people are talking about a share price like it will be a single number. I could be wrong but if monzo sells there could be a price per share for big investors, and a separate much lower price per share for crowdfunders
you are wrong
2 Likes
Is that her? Thatās not the picture with the FT articleā¦
Ohhh yeah, mine seems to be an old photo, more āback to the future Elizabeth Holmesā now! I like it! Not the image of a boring ftse100 suit.
Right, Iām too old for this clowning about (a decade later). ive deleted my āitās been 11 yearsā meme to save mods the time and will now get my coatā¦ 
letās all hope for a private exit opportunity for the crowdfunders who want to take a profit.
4 Likes
Yeah you are entirely wrong, theyāve essentially only one share class
Did you just pull that fact out of thin air?
A customer base of 15.2 million positions Monzo as the UKs seventh largest bank by customer numbers, apparently.
Sorry but you are completely wrong?
Yes, freetrade and brewdog both shafted their crowdfunding shareholders by issuing preferential shares to vc investors. If they hadnāt agreed to those terms then their crowdfunding shareholders would have got more / some return on their investments.
They didnāt intentionally go out of their way to harm their crowdfunders, however they did allow vc investors to say āif you want us to lead this round at this increased valuation then weāll need preferential shares to the ordinary onesā, shake their hands and proceed with those terms.
At the time the managemenr think the sky is blue from here on in and they donāt dwell on the fact that if there is a liquidation then ordinary shareholders will be further down the pecking order and may get nothing (like brewdog) or significantly less than preferential shareholders (like freetrade). They just care about the new big valuation and making the vcās happy.
Monzo havenāt done this in the same way as those two. They set out to only have ordinary shares. I believe this was because passion capital wanted a squeaky clean cap table that was without any complications or imbalance, to make it easier to exit when the time came, although that is my guess and I may be wrong on that.
However, when they were gilted by their big investor when COVID hit, they carried out a down round which contained preferential shares I believe. But my understanding is that the preference was to do with dilution rights rather than a liquidation preference, as y combinator and others had just invested a huge amount at a Ā£2bn valuation and were now reluctantly backing a very small amount at 1.25bn. I think they managed to get their big investment at 2bn marked down to 1.25bn instead on the condition that they will provide the emergency funds? Someone more knowledgeable about it might be able to elaborate what the preference meant here exactly.
Anyway, as far as I know, if monzo were to become less viable and sold for a low amount or liquidated, there would be no different share prices for crowdfunders because they own ordinary shares like everyone else.
So while monzoās relationship with crowdfunding shareholders has been poor over the years, they did at least prevent vcs from putting themselves on a pedestal with liquidation preferences.
3 Likes