The last few years have been brutal for tech companies. On the equity side, VCs have turned off the spigot that saw floods of cheap money invested in the 2000 vintage. On the revenue side, enterprise CIOs have reduced their risks by cutting the number of suppliers to the bare minimum. Companies that have managed to prosper through this awful time now stand ready to claim their rightful place in the tech Hall of Fame – Nasdaq.
Unfortunately, just when the need for a welcoming equity market for young growing businesses is at its peak, dark forces in the US have closed off the option. Extreme regulation, the plaintiff’s bar, Sarbanes Oxley and Nasdaq’s move upmarket combine to make being public in the USA an unattractive option.
Fortunately there is an answer – London’s AIM exchange. By the end of October, more than $22bn were raised for the IPOs of over 350 companies which joined the 1300 already listed. The attractiveness of AIM is evident to any closely held company wanting to become what it says on their website can – a truly global leading supplier. It is also evident to any VC wanting to exit their better investments. This has led to a stream of carpet baggers visiting the US peddling the benefits of AIM from the observers’ perspective.
AIM4Tech cuts through the jargon and carpet baggers’ patter and brings you the unique observations of Ken Olisa, a 30+ year IT sector veteran and a Director of AIM companies since the market’s birth in 1995. Ken is currently chairman of Restoration Partners, a boutique merchant bank based in London that has successfully floated US tech firms on AIM.
Follow us on Twitter for news on Blog updates: @Aim4Tech
Recent Comments