Sydney-based startup Jayride to list on ASX today after $1.5 million IPO

Sydney-based airport transport startup Jayride today makes its debut as a public company, listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after an oversubscribed $1.5 million initial public offering (IPO) in December last year.

This follows a series of raises completed by Jayride in 2017, locking in a $1.5 million raise in May and $8 million in funding in September, with founder Rod Bishop tellingStartupSmart then the company was “working fast towards an IPO”.

Today, the startup’s eggs have hatched, and Bishop tells StartupSmart the young tech company, founded in 2012, chose to list on the ASX to boost its credibility and give the startup access to more partnerships it may have struggled to achieve otherwise.

“It’s about looking towards the future. Being a public company gives us a lot of forward movement for growth and a lot of credibility for accessing new partnerships,” he says.

“When we were a private startup that people didn’t know very well, it was harder to get certain deals. Like when we first met with Flight Centre — the process of landing that partnership was long and hard.”

Bishop says the listing process was also hard work and is thankful the company had a line of supportive investors who were keen for the startup to use their capital to seek a listing. The company’s pre-IPO raise was mainly to seek such investors, ones who were willing to “go with us on this journey”, he says. Read more

Dominic Powell - Smart Company - 29 Jan 2018