SatoshiPay getting ready for IPO in London
Exciting news: We are preparing to go public on AIM, the market for growth companies at the London Stock Exchange, later this year. We are also happy to announce that London-based crypto investor Daniel Masters is supplying us with €566k in pre-IPO funding.
Going public
To foster further growth for SatoshiPay, we decided to list our company on a liquid growth market and, given our existing shareholder structure, London’s AIM is our preferred choice. The proposed listing will supply the company with a platform to raise development capital, allow shareholders to trade shares, and give stakeholders the confidence that comes with the levels of corporate governance and transparency required for a listed company.
Being a public company will also give us access to institutional investors, that can typically only supply funding to quoted companies. If listed, we will be one of the first blockchain businesses listed in London.
Meinhard Benn, CEO SatoshiPay says: “This is a giant leap for SatoshiPay, and I am extremely proud that the startup I co-founded in 2014 has grown into a company that, with the support of an amazing team and fantastic investors, is now approaching a stock market float. This is beyond my wildest dreams when starting SatoshiPay by writing a few lines of code at a kitchen table in a Berlin flat. In a way we are just getting started, and I am looking forward to the things we can achieve by taking SatoshiPay public.”
“Reverse Takeover” by Blue Star Capital plc
SatoshiPay has signed an agreement with Blue Star Capital (BSC), an AIM listed investing company (Symbol: LON:BLU), which grants BSC exclusivity over an all-share acquisition of SatoshiPay until October 2018 (see BSC announcement). If completed, this acquisition would result in a so-called reverse takeover (RTO) of SatoshiPay by BSC.
An RTO is a type of merger that private companies engage in to become publicly traded without going through an initial public offering (IPO). The public company (in this case BSC) acquires the entire issued share capital of the private company (SatoshiPay) using BSC shares, whilst simultaneously undertaking a fundraise. Once completed, the private company has effectively become a publicly traded company.
Ever since BSC first invested in us in 2017, we considered the advantages of a potential RTO to get us listed. BSC currently owns 30.1% of SatoshiPay’s shares and is very familiar with our company, which makes them an ideal partner to bring us to market.
As of this morning, BSC’s shares are temporarily suspended from trading on AIM, and will only become available for trading again following publication of an Admission Document (AIM terminology for prospectus) in relation to the enlarged group, or in the event that negotiations in respect of the RTO are terminated.
Tony Fabrizi, CEO of Blue Star Capital: “Since making our initial investment in SatoshiPay we have been impressed by the progress made by the business and are therefore delighted to be working with SatoshiPay’s management team on their proposed listing. We believe an RTO is an excellent outcome both for SatoshiPay and for Blue Star Capital’s shareholders.”
Pre-IPO funding
To increase our execution speed as a business during the run-up to our public listing, we decided to seek pre-IPO funding and are delighted to have gained the support of Daniel Masters, an experienced serial entrepreneur and investor in the blockchain space. On 25 July 2018 Danny invested €566k in SatoshiPay at a pre-money company valuation of €17m, which is a significant uplift from our €6m post-money valuation in January 2017.
Daniel Masters, Executive Chairman at CoinShares says: “SatoshiPay is leading payment implementations using blockchain technology, that have for a long time been a prized but illusive use case. Having been very early adopters and well vested in the crypto community, Meinhard and his team have the skills to lead the way in this field. I’m excited to be a shareholder.”
About Daniel Masters
Daniel Masters is currently Executive Chairman at CoinShares and at Global Advisors Holdings, a group which represents XBT Provider, issuer of Europe’s only publicly traded Bitcoin and Ether securities and is composed of the team responsible for GABI, a Jersey based, actively managed, Bitcoin investment strategy; and previously responsible for the Global Advisors Commodity Investment Fund and the Global Advisors Commodity Systematic Fund.
Before Global Advisors, Danny began his career in Oil and Energy trading for the likes of Shell, Solomon, and prior to co-founding Global Advisors in 1999, served as Global Head of Energy and Trading Business at Morgan Guaranty Trust Company (“MGT”) in New York (Now JPMorgan).
Company progress
In the recent months we’ve been busy hiring outstanding new team members in all departments: tech, product, growth, finance and support, as well as a number of new advisors, and we are now approaching a total team size of 20 people. The SatoshiPay family is growing! Introductory blog posts will follow.
We have recently launched a number of product improvements and new features, including a simplified backup feature and improved platform stability. We also have a super-simple tipping function upcoming. Additionally, we are currently working on an exciting new content partnership. So stay tuned for updates and follow our Twitter account @SatoshiPay!
Meinhard Benn, CEO at SatoshiPay
