The London-based fintech company PrimaryBid is close to finalising a $150 million funding round led by Japanese giant SoftBank’s Vision Fund II. While the news is not officially confirmed so far, and when contacted, PrimaryBid’s spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. At the same time, an anonymous industry source confirmed to Tech Funding News that the deal is close to finalizing. With Draper Espirit being the early investor and already making huge waves in the world of investing, Primary Bid allows companies launching stock market flotations or new share issues to include the public, rather than just big City institutions. With SoftBank’s Vision Fund II having accumulated stakes in companies such as Uber and Revolut, the new development is a big milestone for the British platform. The fresh funding will help the star startup to continue its expansion beyond the UK. The fintech platform had earlier closed a $50m Series B investment round from a leading group of investors, including the London Stock Exchange Group, Draper Esprit, OMERS Ventures, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures and ABN AMRO Ventures to facilitate expansion into international markets.
The platform gained real momentum during the pandemic when more people took an interest in investing. The startup allows individual investors fair access to public companies raising capital by facilitating the retail investors to transact at the same time and at the same price as institutional investors. Reeling from the impact of coronavirus, the world of financial services has completely been transformed. Having emerged as an extremely important sector, it has been disrupted by the emergence of various startups and how. Building platforms that are facilitating an ever-increasing number of users to take a more proactive role in financial services, the space has seen the emergence of various other players such as New York’s Rally and YieldStreet and Manchester-based AJ Bell Youinvest.