The UK’s IPO market has been heating up for a while – it’s pretty exciting to watch. There was the recent scuffle over Royal Mail shares; Foxtons hit the ground running last month; and Crest Nicholson made a successful debut back in February (and there are a smorgasbord more in the pipeline).
But there’s still something missing from London’s stock exchanges. A big-ticket tech IPO.
The UK’s technology sector is booming, there are rumors of flotation plans surrounding many of our technology stars (most notably Mind Candy and Zoopla) but there’s a fear these firms will shun London and head to New York. That’s exactly what games maker King has done. The London-based creator of the insanely popular Candy Crush Saga has filed for an IPO in the US. Sniff, sniff.
When MT spoke to tech veteran Dan Wagner, he made it pretty clear he didn’t think he’d be listing his company Powa in London.
But fear not. Tech City is here to save the day and encourage our tech wunderkinds to list here. Well, they’ve created something called the Future Fifty in a bid to do so anyway…
Joanna Shields, chief executive of Tech City and chancellor George Osborne launched the initiative last April. Future Fifty is a year-long scheme which will offer ‘concierge-style’ support to the companies on the list to help them launch IPOs (in the UK, natch). Today, it has announced the first 25 companies on its list.
With the London Stock Exchange adding its High Growth segment – aimed at providing young, fast growing companies with an easier route to market – hopefully we’ll manage to anchor our tech successes to the capital.
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Here’s the list of companies in Tech City’s sights so far: Zoopla Property Group – online property service |
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