Australia's paytech Tyro plans to float on country's stock exchange and raise $173.2m

Australia’s paytech Tyro plans to float on country’s stock exchange and raise $173.2m

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
21st November 2019

Australian paytech Tyro Payments is vying to float on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in an initial public offering (IPO) which is projected to raise up to $173.23 million (AUD 252.7 million).

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the 2003-founded firm, which says it’s Australia’s fifth-largest payments provider, is pursuing a $1 billion valuation too.

Six listings were aborted on the Australian Stock Exchange last month

Targeting small and medium-sized businesses, Tyro offers an electronic funds transfer point of sale (EFTPOS) service, as well delivering online payments, business bank accounts and business loans.

The plan to float on the ASX comes after six listings on it were aborted last month, suggesting Australia’s IPO market is not easy to break into. Reuters puts this down to investors demanding lower prices to protect themselves against the possibility of post-float losses.

With a price range of $1.70 to $1.87 per share, the paytech says its focus still “remains firmly on challenging the status quo” for its merchants.

Despite net losses of $18.6 million in the last fiscal year, existing investors, including Tiger Global, TDM Growth Partners, Telstra’s CEO David Thodey and Australian billionaire, Mike Cannon-Brookes, will wait until Tyro’s 2020 financial reports before selling any shares.

Thodey, who is also Tyro’s chairman, says he’s delighted to be able to invite new shareholders. “We [can] build upon our solid foundation to pursue an exciting growth strategy,” he adds in a statement.