London Stock Exchange announces partnership with fintech Floww in private market push
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has revealed a cash injection into investment platform Floww today, as it looks to become the first global exchange to straddle both public and private markets .
Bosses at LSEG said the partnership with Floww would allow it to tap into a pre-existing portfolio of private firms and ramp up its push into private capital.
Group head of capital markets Murray Roos said the partnership would help the group achieve its ambition is to be “genuinely indifferent” over whether a firm is public or private.
“By working together, we can support the widest range of companies through their funding lifecycle including helping them transition from private to public markets,” he said.
“LSEG is championing entrepreneurship and the innovation community to create a new future for the global private market.”
London-based Floww, which boasts 7,000 firms on its platform and around 70 venture capital firms, will now work with LSEG to roll out its new private primary capital raising facility.
Floww said the private asset market had ballooned to over £5tn but traditional infrastructure had failed to keep up, with the new partnership with LSEG widening access to investors.
“Trust and reliable data form the foundation for a liquid market,” said Floww boss Martijn De Wever.
“We are the only party in the market with accountant verified data and the ability for players to control who has access to what data.”
The investment from LSEG comes after a bumper year in which IPOs fundraising hit the highest levels since 2007.
Government has been working with the LSE to push through a series of reforms to designed to tempt more firms to come to market in London, following a major review of the UK’s listing regime last year.