UK’s Atom Bank Raises £40 Million In Plan For Initial Public Offering

U.K. FinTech Atom Bank is planning to raise 40 million pounds (about $56 million) from existing shareholders as it plans for an initial public offering (IPO), according to a Prolific North report on Thursday (Feb. 25).

The startup has turned the corner of profitability from its mortgage and business lending within a year. The IPO is anticipated to happen in the 2022-23 financial year.

“We turn to our shareholders for capital as and when we need it to drive growth,” said Mark Mullen, CEO and co-founder. “Despite it being a difficult environment for all companies that need to raise funding, this capital raise will allow us to continue to progress towards profitability and ever-improving levels of efficiency and engagement. The team retains an IPO as our objective and we’ll take the business there when we and the markets are ready. After the year that’s just gone I’m not going to claim perfect foresight, but we’re looking at the financial year 2022/23 as our IPO target.”

Atom expects to grow small business lending by over 700 million pounds by the end of March, which will triple the number of business loans year on year.

“We think of Atom as an exceptionally engaging and efficient banking machine that helps and supports customers to own their homes or build their businesses,” said Mullen.

“We’ve been there for new and existing customers during the pandemic, and in a year when we have held our operating costs constant I’m delighted that we have coupled substantial income growth with an enviable record of customer experience.”

Atom launched in 2016 and now employs more than 400 people from its North East headquarter, per the news outlet.

The Spanish bank BBVA recently upped its stake in Atom Bank to roughly 39 percent, investing 96 million euros for a total of 189 million euros. Atom has raised a total of 149 million pounds to expand and develop new products and services.