Floating in London would be my ‘signature achievement’, ClearScore CEO
Floating credit score giant ClearScore on the London Stock Exchange would be “my signature achievement”, the company’s co-founder and chief executive has said.
Speaking on an up-coming episode of Morning Wire‘s Boardroom Uncovered show, Justin Basini opened up about the plans being drawn up to take ClearScore public in the next couple of years.
He stated London feels like the “natural home” for the company instead of choosing to follow fellow UK tech firms and list in New York instead.
If an initial public offering in the capital is followed through on, ClearScore is estimated to command a value of between £1.5bn and £2.5bn.
The Boardroom Uncovered interview comes after the company’s pre-tax profit almost quadrupled in 2024 to £17.9m while its revenue also increased 17 per cent to £89.7m.
Speaking on the up-coming episode, Basini said: “We’re not slavish about it but definitely an IPO would be an incredible achievement.
“To go from a piece of paper, a business plan ten years ago through to an IPO in London would be a signature achievement of my career and my team’s career.
“We’re very interested in it. Of course we’re looking at lots of different options but it’s something that I think a lot about.”
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Why New York is not the plan for ClearScore
When asked what it would take for the London Stock Exchange to convince ClearScore to list in the capital rather than in New York, Basini added:”London is the natural home for a company like ClearScore.
“We have a nationally recognised brand, 75 per cent of my business is here. I have 25m users.
“All of that means that London is a natural home. But I also think there’s a thing which is important to recognise is that the US public markets are just so large.
“I was at a session with Nasdaq in New York a few months ago and one of the things that I took away from that was they said the market doesn’t really open up until you’re over 10bn in market capitalization.
“The reality is that there aren’t many UK fintech companies that can get to that valuation.
“The vast majority of us running great businesses, nationally, competing in the UK and then starting to build our international businesses – they would not get that sort of valuation.
“We’re not known in the US. And so for me, the UK is a natural home because I would get the coverage, I would still get access to all of the best investors in the world.
“Hopefully retail investors would see the IPO. They know our brand and would want to get involved.”
‘I want this government to succeed’
Asked about what he would like to see the Labour government focus on to help boost the UK’s growth, the ClearScore boss listed five areas which were of particular importance to him.
Basini said: “The reality is that consumer confidence, markets opening business confidence, confidence in government, confidence in democracy – all of those things are linked together.
“What I’m hoping over the next few years is that we start to get a bit more positivity.
“We start to get a bit more momentum in all of those five areas, and then it starts to feed on each other and you start to get a really positive dynamic happening that requires multiple things to happen.
“It requires money to start flowing off, continued success of British businesses, the deregulation that the government’s doing, all of those things need to come in.
“Some of the things that I think the government are doing at the moment to unlock investor investment in electricity infrastructure, in climate change – all of those things will mean inward investment increases.
“That creates, hopefully, more momentum. Mansion House accords keeps momentum going and then you start to get more positivity. That’s ultimately what we need.
“We need this country to be successful. Whether you like the government or don’t like the government, it’s better to have a successful government than a not successful government, right? That’s my attitude is.
“I want this government to succeed because it’s much better for all of us if it is successful. I’m optimistic that some of those things will start to play out.
“I want this country to be successful. I want our businesses to be successful.
“I want employment to continue to flourish. I want lots of job opportunities. And though that will only happen as the country gets more confidence and that consumer confidence goes up, consumers spending starts to go up. That unlocks investment.”