RetailBook, the platform created to give investors access to IPOs and other listed company fundraising, has raised £2.5 million to take the next steps in its development, though London's severe dearth of new listings continues.
Peel Hunt, the broker that set up the platform with rivals Numis and Jefferies along with fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown and Rothschild, said the cash will provide the regulatory capital needed to gain authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority, which it expects to receive "shortly".
It plans that RetailBook will soon be spun off and will operate independently in the coming months.
The funds were raised via an issue of new RetailBook Holdings Ltd shares to "strategic investors", including Peel Hunt and certain existing collaboration partners, presumably HL, Jefferies, Numis and Rothschild.
Peel Hunt chief executive Steven Fine bought £100,000 of shares and Darren Carter, a non-executive director on the broker's board, invested £772,000, while RetailBook CEO Aaqib Mirza snapped up £75,000 of shares on the same terms.
RetailBook will be a rival platform to PrimaryBid, which is backed by the LSEG and was valued at around $700 million when it raised $190 million in an investment round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund in 2022.