A Waterford-based fintech company has just pulled off an IPO in Australia
Financial compliance startup Kyckr raised over €3 million in the process.
EARLY-STAGE IRISH fintech company Kyckr has just announced its successful listing on the Australian stock exchange.
As part of the initial public offering (IPO), the financial compliance solutions startup that was founded in Waterford by Rob Leslie has raised AU$5 million (€3.4 million).
The deal put the fully diluted value of the company at close to AU$26 million (€17.7 million).
Despite the company going public on the Australian Securities Exchange, Kyckr will both maintain its headquarters and house its intellectual property in Ireland.
Speaking to Fora, Kyckr founder Leslie said Australians seem to have a thirst for investing in fintech at the moment, so it was a good chance to take advantage of that by going public Down Under.
“Opportunity on that side of the world is very big for us so it made sense to do the IPO in Australia,” he said.
“We already have a lot of customers over there so it I think the decision to go public in Australia also demonstrates our commitment to the region.”
He added that the majority of the money raised will be used for business development purposes, with the company set to open a number of small sales operations in Dublin, London, Singapore, Sydney and possibly Frankfurt.
Kyckr co-founder Ben Cronin (right) with David Cassidy (left) and Albert Wong
Know your business
Since it was set up in November 2007, Kyckr has specialised in providing banks and financial institutions with a compliance solution called ‘know your business’ that helps prevent money laundering, tax evasion and commercial fraud.
Company filings showed it has revenue of AU$1.2 million (€800,000) for the first half of 2016, delivering a profit of AU$250,000 (€170,000).
Enterprise Ireland, which invested €250,000 in the company, stands to more than double the value of its investment in the firm after the IPO, the documents show.
Just prior to the flotation, Kyckr officially acquired Global Business Register, a company founded by Leslie and former Irish rugby international Ben Cronin and based out of ArcLabs in the Waterford Institute of Technology.
On a global scale, the financial compliance market is worth between $70 billion to $80 billion annually, and since the financial crash in 2008 US banks alone have incurred fines of $120 billion for failing to meet compliance regulations, according to Kyckr.
