2.6 The Investor acknowledges and agrees that in certain circumstances following a Listing, may be necessary for security or compliance purposes, or Crowdcube may in its sole discretion deem it in the best interests of all parties for the legal title of any shares not transferred into a GIA to be transferred to the relevant Investor. In these circumstances, Crowdcube shall have the right to make adjustments (by way of rounding to a whole number) to the beneficial ownership of that Investor’s shares such that the transfer of legal title is aligned with the beneficial ownership, and is a whole number of shares capable of transfer.
I’d be really disappointed to see them list on the LSE. It’s now (mostly) just for dividend investors looking for stuffy old cash cows who aren’t taking many risks or doing anything exciting.
There is obviously this narrative in the UK media & political spheres that the LSE may be a sinking ship and we need to all band together to work this out and help British companies to thrive in Britain, however Monzo has no duty to make Britain great again. It has always had its sights on the USA. Nearly all of its major investors are from the US and although I wasn’t at the meetings, I’m pretty sure they invested on the understanding that this is where it was going.
If Monzo chooses to list on the LSE then it’s an admission that Monzo USA is not viable.
If they want to make an impact in the USA and really be a $10-20bn company seeking to be a $trillion company then they need to explode onto the Nasdaq and let everybody in America and the world know who they are and what they are going to do.
Listing on the LSE would guarantee they will be a small to medium sized bank with a focus on customers in a tiny cold little island.
I think you’re overestimating the success of British companies who have listed in the US. Many of them are trading well below IPO, many have delisted etc. It’s not quite as straightforward as ‘list in the US for higher valuations’ - This is the overly hyped, negative nelly, clickbait that I dislike on LinkedIn etc. People are encouraged to write negative headlines due to clicks/views/advertising dollars. This behaviour breeds more negativity.
I’m not saying we should absolutely list in the UK or US, there are clearly benefits for both. The fact which is frequently ignored is that ALL stock markets have seen huge reductions in IPOs and so many companies who listed in recent years are trading well below IPO price due political uncertainty and the lofty valuations startups achieved in c.2021.
Considering how the UK government wants more folk to invest in British startups/initiatives and yet offers zero security and protections against being shafted (looking straight at you Freetrade and every single other damn British startup I have ever invested in) then in my opinion Britain can shove it’s LSE where the sun don’t shine.
Does anyone know how the share sale process may work if and when Monzo IPO?
Like others have said, when I invested back in 2018, I kind of assumed I wouldn’t get anything back as it was highly speculative. The process is very opaque and strange, but it’s what we signed up for
Crowdcube will offer you a GIA to hold or sell your listed shares. Or if you prefer you’ll be able to transfer your listed shares to a different broker. See the various GIA articles here…
I don’t really see any significant problem with this term. My reading of it is that it would only apply in certain circumstances (such as investor not providing necessary details to facilitate transfer to a GIA) and would only amount to an adjustment of fractional shares to a whole number, rather than forced sell off of entire holding.
Clearly plans to go public are progressing - they’re hiring for a Director of Corporate Legal and a couple points from the ‘day-to-day activities’ stood out:
General corporate law and corporate governance compliance to support and meet Group private entity and future public entity requirements
Group M&A and corporate development legal advice working closely with Monzo’s group strategy and corporate development team
Clearly readying themselves for an IPO, but M&A activity is rarely discussed. Would Monzo acquire any businesses? I’ve long thought the best route into the USA is to purchase a bank with a national charter. Charters are exceptionally hard, verging on impossible, to get. Why not buy a small player who has the license?
At the moment I suspect not. Bear in mind they are funded by startup VCs, if those VCs wanted their cash to be spent on other startups or established American banks they’d buy those instead. Then there’d be the huge issues of migrating said banks to Monzo’s systems (lord knows what some of those legacy systems look like!)
If a small acquisition could get them a US charter, then maybe that’s the only instance it would make sense. No idea on the specifics of that though. Else I would guess acquisitions would be a strategy when they have more of their own cash from profits to play with, or they raise specifically for the acquisition.
I work for a legacy bank, you can only imagine the systems!
Do you think it’s out the question entirely they acquire a bank for their book? If you look into the US charter, they basically don’t give them out full stop. This is why all fintechs in the US (domestic and foreign) partner with a US bank for a lot of things.
I first invested in Monzo 9 years ago and would very much appreciate the opportunity to cash in some of my shares. Other businesses see ways to do this, how about some Monzo creative thinking and action.
I am sorry but the Monzo leadership should care. The early backers bet on the company when its prospects were still very much uncertain. Given that in the latest fundraising round existing employees have been allowed to sell shares, it would be more than reasonable to ask for the same for crowdfunding investors.
Not sure how open Monzo’s leadership is to this, but it might still be worth collecting our voices and trying to get heard. This could take many forms, for example a letter to leadership.
To elaborate on @michaelw90 comment. It’s not that Monzo don’t care per-say. I’ll touch on this while answering the next part of your comment.
You can discuss it here as much as you like and gather as much support as you want, but Monzo doesn’t actively engage with the community. Especially not those responsible for making these decisions.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t try, but keep in mind that this space can be somewhat of an echo chamber. The number of people requesting the option to sell shares represents only a small fraction of all investors.
