NEW YORK: San Francisco-based financial technology company Credible Labs Inc. is going public, but not on a US exchange.
The start-up, a consumer loans marketplace, raised $50 million (A$66 million; Dh1.8 billion) in an initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange, according to a statement Thursday. While the listing is small compared to most US public offerings, it is the largest technology IPO on the ASX this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The IPO values Credible at A$300 million, about 50 per cent higher than the valuation it got in its last fund-raising round, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the details aren’t public. Credible raised $10 million in a Series B round in December 2016.
Credible plans to use the proceeds of the IPO to further develop the company’s technology platform, add more partnerships and continuing growing its customer base.
“You don’t just have to go the traditional venture capital way,” Credible Vice-Chairman Ron Suber said in an interview. “Sometimes there is money out there that has less of a penalty than the VC community,” he said, adding that this would also make it easier for the firm to do acquisitions in the future.
Suber was president of online lending platform Prosper Marketplace until earlier this year.
Credible was founded in 2012 as a marketplace for student loans, but has since expanded to more lucrative areas of personal loans and credit cards. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Dash said in the statement that expansion could continue. The firm’s approach could work for other financial products that aren’t easy to understand and require consumers to make bigger decisions, he said.
