A list of UK tech firms that could go public this year has been announced by UK business data platform Beauhurst.
The list was compiled by comparing the tech firm’s age, sector, stage of evolution, funds raised, latest valuation and public mentions of plans to IPO with those that have already made the leap.
It said that the number of high growth UK companies which have undergone an IPO has fallen every year for the last three years, with just seven cited in 2019. The dip was explained in part as a result of the bad press surround IPOs and a ‘valuation bubble’, particularly within the tech market.
Among the firms it tipped to go public this year is Deliveroo. In May of 2019 Amazon led a $575m raise in the firm, a deal which has since caught the attention of regulators.
Beauhurst said that rumours have circulated that the raise will be used as a runway to undergo an exit event, with unnamed sources at The Telegraph suggesting an IPO is on the way in 2020.
Camden-based FinTech firm iwoca is also tipped for a public offering, having achieved a £9.9m operating profit in its relatively short lifespan.
In February last year the London firm raised a massive £150m in equity and debt capital, and in August took £10m from the Capability and Innovation Fund (CIF) under the RBS Alternative Remedies Package.
The firm has £201m of capital provided by a mix of equity and loan funding.
Oxford MedTech firm OrganOx was also tipped for an IPO this year. At the end of 2019 the firm secured a £4.6m investment from UK and Ireland business investor BGF. It brings the total equity raised over nine rounds to £29m, and its pre-money valuation to £52.3m.
The firm, which has created a device to keep donated organs ‘alive’ before transplant, was spun out of the University of Oxford in 2008.
Westminster’s crime-fighting FinTech firm ComplyAdvantage has also been tipped for a public offering.
Its CEO Charles Delingpole told BusinessCloud in March of last year that the company was on track to double their staff to over 300 by the end of 2019, and that the ultimate goal was an IPO.
Delingpole said one of its investors, Index Ventures, would eventually expect the firm to list given its growth.
Staying on FinTech, Durham-based Atom Bank has also been tipped to list this year, after the FT reported its preparation for an eventual IPO.
The firm has raised £482m over 12 funding rounds and most recently bagged £50m from existing investors in July, earmarked for growth and product development.
It also took £10m from the same fund as iwoca, under the RBS Alternative Remedies Package.
University of Bristol spinout Xmos has had IPO rumours surrounding it for the last decade, says Beauhurst, but 2020 could be the year it finally happens.
The chip-maker specialises in voice controllers and audio interfaces for consumer electronics and was listed in BusinessCloud’s South West Tech 101 list.
A spinout itself, it has spun out machine learning processor firm Graphcore which is now one of the UK’s 16 active unicorns.
Its investors include Bosch, Draper Espirit and Foundation Capital.