Euronext stock market in Amsterdam. Image: www.hollandfoto.net/Shutterstock
One of Europe’s unsung tech heroes is a Dutch payments firm valued at $8.3bn.
Adyen, the Netherlands’ answer to Stripe and PayPal, is to raise up to $1bn in an IPO based on a market capitalisation of up to $8.3bn.
The company is planning to float 12.7pc of its issued and operating share capital in an IPO that will take place on 13 June on the Euronext Amsterdam.
‘Adyen will remain a company that is driven by a long-term vision and strategy’
– PIETER VAN DER DOES
This will be the biggest European tech IPO since Sweden’s Spotify went public. Spotify was recently valued at $26.5bn.
Payday
Adyen is one of Europe’s best-known unicorn players and was founded in 2006 by CEO Pieter van der Does and Arnout Schuijff. Its aim was to create a single-click, single-page payments platform capable of handling almost every type of payment method, from cards to bitcoin.
Interestingly, the entire proceeds of the IPO will go to insiders in the company selling stock rather than the company itself, which means a massive payday for its investors.
Adyen has raised more than $266m in venture capital funding so far from investors that include Iconiq Capital (which invests on behalf of people such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey) as well as General Atlantic and Index Ventures.
In April, the company generated $1.14bn in annual revenues, up $400m on the previous year.
Customers of Adyen include Facebook, Uber, Netflix, Spotify, Casper, Bonobos and L’Oréal.
“We feel that we are still in the early stages of a remarkable journey,” said van der Does.
“Our focus remains on building new functionality and on helping our merchants grow. This offering provides us with the freedom to keep building the company while offering our shareholders a path to liquidity. Adyen will remain a company that is driven by a long-term vision and strategy,” he added.
In recent weeks, another European payments player, Sweden’s iZettle, filed for an IPO only to be acquired days later by PayPal.
Euronext stock market in Amsterdam. Image: www.hollandfoto.net/Shutterstock
