not having any experience whatsoever … I think its a fair way off IPO a couple of years so -2025 / 26 would be my guess
When the market is in an up-cycle, interest rates are low so loans are bountiful and Monzo is in a great position to say “We’re not just your average startup IPO, we’re an actual tech company that makes real, hard cash with a product customers are obsessed with”.
I think 2025 / 2026.
Going off what happened with the fiasco of the WeWork IPO, I would expect Monzo to have to be securly profitable for a small while before an IPO.
I also do wonder if they will IPO in New York. A lot of UK companies IPOs seem to be heading there and its another foothold to try and expand in the USA.
A lot of UK companies IPOs
It is common knowledge that if you are a tech company and IPO in the UK, you will suffer. The UK is just not as rich as American markets, and Americans do not invest in UK companies for the same reason we do not invest in Japanese. Most brokers just don’t support it
You should blog about it like you did for Wise
I would assume, not being an expert, that it will be at least 2025 given current market conditions.
I think it’s also a likelihood it’ll be listed in New York, which selfishly as an investor I’m keen on. As a patriotic guy I’d hope it would be listed in the UK
You wouldn’t necessarily get a higher valuation in the US. The banking sector is one that London does quite well for. A lot of the lower valuations on the LSE have been either been purely tech focussed or have had a mainly American customer base. Neither is true for Monzo.
You should blog about it like you did for Wise
As an ex monzo employee with shares I think this is the quickest way for me to lose them
That’s a shame. Your blog posts are fantastic and well written, and that Wise one is of my favourites.
Thanks!!
The IPO price does not matter so much to me because I have to wait like 3 or 6 months for it to “settle” before internal employees can sell
Wait what? Should really have read the smallprint…
Yeah if you all dump your stock the second it floats then it does tend to nuke the price
Oh no - you guessed my strategy! SELL, SELL, SELL.
Unless of course Monzo offer great dividends and continue to grow, then I might hold on to the shares as a source of income.
I personally dislike to label Monzo as a tech company, we are a bank that has great tech, listing on the basis we are tech is wrong and would send the wrong message, we will list as a bank - and we will do that in a market with a strong financial history.
In year ending 2022 Monzo was valued at £5.2bn - source Monzo’s own Annual Report and Accounts.
However, the real valuation is what someone will pay for the company which is (drum roll) … (looking in crystal ball) … (redacted) you will have to pay me to find out the answer (tongue in cheek).
Seriously though if you look at the big investors e.g. Coatue, Stripe, Tencent, Goodwater Capital, Accel, Alpha Wave Ventures, Abu Dabai Growth Fund, General Catalyst, Y Combinator etc they are invested to make a profit.
The £5.2bn figure in the 2022 report was Total Assets which is customer loans etc, not the company’s valuation.
In 2021 the highest and most recent implied valuation (implied based on the price Abu Dhabi Growth Fund paid for new shares multiplied by the known total amount of shares) was $4.5bn, which is £3.5bn at today’s exchange rates.
That depends on whether Monzo have a direct listing or not.
If they have an investment bank sponsor the IPO (like most companies do) then they will write in a clause for a delay before employees can sell.
But if they list direct and there’s no middleman (like Wise did actually) then they’ll be no delay.
Interesting
What would the most likely process be in the (please God ) event of an IPO? Once Monzo & the Investment Bank agreed on a target price, what would happen with crowdfund investors?
Would it be a case that pre-IPO, Crowdfund investors would be offered a price to sell at prior to the listing? Or would they be locked-in similar to employees for a period of time?
I kinda feel the company would want rid of crowdfund investors prior to IPO to make the process a bit cleaner
It’s unlikely that there would be a separate exit for crowdfunding investors in my opinion. The only realistic reason they would do that (to offer a secondary sale pre-IPO) is because they believe with overwhelming certainty that they will be worth more at IPO, and they can hoover up discounted stock. If they offered this to Crowdfunding investors, given the paperwork I’d imagine they’d also offer it to employees too (up to a limit, e.g 10% of holding).
In my opinion, more likely that not, crowdfunding investor’s shares held with the nominee will be transferred to investors to hold directly, then the IPO, where they are available to trade.
It definitely would make it slightly less complicated if crowdfunding investors were out of the picture, but it isn’t that much more effort. There are many people (and businesses) that already hold Monzo stock directly. That part of IPO needs to happen regardless, the extra bit of legwork is a transfer from nominee to investor, but that’s a process Crowdcube will more than likely handle (with Monzo’s lawyers input I imagine).
Also given Crowdfunding investors represent a insignificant portion of the shareholding, their may not be a lock in period. It all depends on the underwriters/investment banks position though, as they will ultimately decide (because they’ll want to be the only one selling stock around the IPO).
And yet would Monzo even exist if not for that insignificant number of original shareholders?
Yes.